


Oasis

by ariquitecontrary (ItsAriyanna)



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Actor Alec, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, CHAPTER 11 IS AN AUTHOR'S NOTE PLEASE READ, Director Magnus, LAST UPDATE HAS BEEN POSTED, M/M, THE REWRITE IS NOW UP ON MY PAGE, famous au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-17
Updated: 2018-04-19
Packaged: 2018-07-24 14:21:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 38,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7511632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ItsAriyanna/pseuds/ariquitecontrary
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alec Lightwood is the dark eyed Hollywood newcomer who is taking the industry by storm. Only 24 years old and already an Academy Award winner, everyone who's anyone wants him in their next movie.<br/>Magnus Bane is the most respected of directors. With multiple Oscars, Emmys, and other awards, everyone who's anyone wants to star in his movies. </p><p>Alec Lightwood would have to be insane to turn down the shot to be a lead actor in Magnus Bane's new movie. He'd also be insane to fall in love with the older man, who's fresh out of a divorce with centerfold, Camille Belcourt. </p><p> </p><p>  <i>Sources say Alec Lightwood might just be mending a broken heart. Too bad it's his own.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> any mistakes are mine, sorry :) enjoy!

“Alec! Alec, over here!”

“Mr. Lightwood, over here please!”

“Alec, can I get a word?”

“Alec!”

“Alec!” 

He keeps his head down, eyes planted firmly on the ground, as his bodyguard leads him through the swarm of people. He’s never had to deal with something like this, but winning an Academy Award for Best Actor will do things for you, he supposes. After what seems like hours, his bodyguard finally opens the door to the car and Alec throws himself in it rather ungracefully. 

“Thanks, Brody.” He gasps out whenever his bodyguard makes his way to the driver’s side of the car. Brody just grunts and starts the engine. He’s a man of very little words. 

“Hey, big brother.” He jumps before turning his head to the side and taking note of his sister, Isabelle, sitting down in the car. He hadn’t noticed her at first, but he’d been pretty focused on trying not to have a panic attack from the group of people hounding him. He remembers that Brody had been instructed to pick her up before picking Alec up from his training and he relaxes. However, Izzy notices his hesitance and sighs. 

“Did you really forget about our dinner plans today?” Alec doesn’t have time to answer before Isabelle is frowning and shaking her head. “Alec, you need to slow down. I know your schedule is a little crazy right now, but you need to make sure you have some time to breathe.”

Alec, the sarcastic ass he is, makes a show of taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. “I do breathe.” 

Honestly, he thinks it’s pretty funny and clever, but Isabelle doesn’t think so and she even goes as far as to roll her eyes and hit him in the arm which actually hurts a lot considering the intense workout he just went through. He winces and pouts at her, but she doesn’t apologize. 

“I’m serious, Alec. This isn’t a joke.” 

He sighs once he realizes that he won’t be able to joke about this one. When he had graduated college, his parents had marveled in the fact that he could now go out and become some important business man or something as equally mundane. Imagine their surprise when their first born decided to run off to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting. Honestly, Alec was surprised at just how surprised his parents were by his actions. It’s not as if Alec was a stranger to acting considering he’d been a part of One Act play ever since his middle school days. He had even wanted to study theatre in college, but he knew his parent’s would never agree to it and since they were paying for everything, he did what they wanted. Now that he had a degree and college out of the way, he was finally doing something for himself and it felt _great_. 

Of course, he hadn’t really anticipated much. He was just some random boy from New York who didn’t have any kind of references and he knew he couldn’t expect a huge breakout right off the back. So he got a few roles in some small Made-For-TV movies, and after a couple of years, at the age of twenty-four, he was now an Academy Award winning Actor which was incredibly unbelievable to him. While he had accustomed to this lifestyle and was used to it and everything it brought with it, his family was not. Izzy worried relentlessly about his health, which was perfect by the way. Jace was still in that phase where he thought Alec was a God, and begged him to take him to parties and award shows, which Alec gladly did. And his parents, well they were a whole different story. While his dad was somewhat supportive, his mother was not. 

Maryse Lightwood could, under no circumstances, understand why Alec would want to throw his life away for acting. It didn’t matter that he had a Golden Globe, Emmy, or even an Oscar, she absolutely could not take him seriously. It had hurt at first, that even though he was famous he still couldn’t make his mom happy, but after a while he had gotten over it. He was happy and really, that’s all that mattered. 

“I’m good,” he says, tuning back into the conversation with his sister. “I just had a really intense workout so I was a little out of it.” His answer doesn’t seem to ease his sister’s worries, but she lets it go nonetheless.

“Okay, well I figured we could just go over to mine and Jace’s place for dinner. He’s been complaining about missing you.” 

Alec nods and he feels a bit guilty. He loves acting and wouldn’t dream of ever giving it up, but he doesn’t love how it tends to tear him away from his family at times. Even though both his siblings had moved to Los Angeles to be closer to him, he still never has much free time to spend with them. However, the few times he was allowed some time to himself, it all went to them.

“To Isabelle’s please, Brody.” Brody nods and takes off. 

“How are you and Jace?” He questions, wanting to take the attention off himself. It seems to be the good thing to ask, because Izzy lights up and jumps into a story of a new guy her and Jace met, who is just _the cutest_. Alec smiles and leans over to rest his head in Izzy’s lap. She places her hands on his head and runs her fingers through his long hair. It’s the most comfortable he’s felt in weeks. 

**

Dinner with Izzy and Jace is full of laughs and a lot of catching up. Jace had been so happy to see his brother, he’d nearly burst into tears when Alec walked through the door. They had ordered Chinese and the delivery boy’s face when Alec answered the door had been priceless. He was really cool about everything though, so Alec took a picture with him and gave him a really big tip. 

“So I’m thinking of changing my major again.” 

Alec snorted at Izzy’s words. She had transferred over to UCLA and had only been in college for two years, but that hadn’t stopped her from changing her major at least six different times. Alec had told her before she went, that she needed to do something that would make _her_ happy and not their parents and she had definitely taken their advice.

“To what?” Jace asked as he sat on the couch and threw his legs over Alec’s thighs. Izzy was currently giving Alec a pedicure and she glared at Jace from her spot on the floor as Alec’s foot twitched. 

“Fashion design. Stop moving Alec’s legs!” 

Jace settled down and placed his head back into his hands. “Cool, I could totally see you doing that.” 

Izzy smiles at the praise and looks towards Alec, probably wanting to hear his input. He simply nods. 

“Definitely. I’m surprised you didn’t study it sooner.”

She just shrugged. “It’s always interested me, but I wanted to check out everything, you know? I had to be sure.” 

“And are you sure?”

“I think so,” she hums. “I’ve always loved fashion and what’s better than designing my own clothes?”

“Well, fix me up something classy and I’ll wear it next time I’m on the red carpet.” 

Izzy’s eyes widened for a moment with excitement before she shakes her head. “I couldn’t ask you to do that, big brother. I’d feel like I was using you.”

Jace snorts and Alec glares at him before looking back to his sister. He leans down and pulls her delicate fingers away from where she’s clenching onto a nail file. 

“Hey, Iz, look at me.” She does and it’s with a small frown. “I don’t want you to ever think that, okay? I know you’re not using me, you’d never do that and I would never accuse you of doing that. You’re my sister and if there’s anyway that I can help you reach your dreams then believe me when I say, I’ll do it. You helped me reach mine after all.” And it’s true. Izzy and her encouragement and loyalty to always stand by him played a big part in him pursing his dreams. He would have never been able to do any of this without the love and support of his sister. “I’d do anything for you, you know that. Even if it means wearing something we all know will be totally flashy and out there.” He grins as Izzy laughs at his words. 

“Thank you, Alec.” She says with a smile and he just nods, knowing she really means it.

“So does this mean you’ll mention to someone that you have a totally super hot brother with killer abs? ‘Cause I deserve my own Calvin Klein shoot.” 

“Shut up!” Izzy cackles, but Alec just rolls his eyes.

“The public knows I have a brother, Jace.” 

“But they don’t know about my killers abs!” He whines. “And have you seen me in briefs?” 

Alec is about to answer, when his phone rings and he’s confused for a moment wondering who would call him this late at night. When he sees it’s his manager, his heart races. This late at night, Raphael Santiago would only call with either really good news or really bad news. 

He raises up two fingers, indicating to his siblings to quiet down and give him a minute. Knowing how serious this could be, they both go silent and watch him in curiosity. 

He slides his finger over the screen and brings the phone up to his ear. “Hello?”

 _“Alexander.”_

Alec has to refrain from rolling his eyes. Raphael is always so serious and Alec wishes he would just lighten up sometimes. 

“What’s up?”

_“Are you busy?”_

“Not really.”

 _“Okay, good.”_ Raphael pauses and Alec worries. Is this serious? _“I might have a new role for you.”_

Alec immediately lets out the breath he wasn’t even aware he was holding and he relaxes into the couch more. “Oh, really? For what?”

_“A leading role in the movie Oasis, have you heard of the novel?”_

Alec nearly chokes on nothing. Fuck, has he heard of _Oasis_ , what kind of question was that? The world had been swept away over the novel involving a teenage boy who, after losing his family to a car wreck, decides to travel the world like he had planned to do with his younger brother. It focuses on the boy finding himself, closure, and of course, love. However, the thing that people loved about the book was that the boy didn’t find happiness in love, but instead he was able to find love _because_ he had found happiness. He’d read the book and loved it. Playing the main character, Ian Evans, would be an absolute dream come true. 

“Yeah,” he says finally snapping out of his daze. “Yeah, I’ve heard of it.” 

_“Great. The director is interested in you and two other actors, but to be honest, I think you have the best chance.”_

“Aw,” Alec coos. “You’re just saying that because you’re my manager.”

He can practically hear the eye roll through the phone. _“Shut up.”_

Alec smiles. “So who’s the director?” He normally wouldn’t mind, but the fact that the director is interested in him and actually thought of him and went out of his way to contact his manager is quite flattering. 

_“Oh! It’s Magnus Bane, know him?”_

This time, Alec does choke on absolutely nothing.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any mistakes are mine :)
> 
> I would just like to start off by saying I know absolutely nothing about acting auditions or how they go down so please forgive me for any mistakes. Also, prepare for the most cliche lines and plot ever in the movie that Alec will be starring in! 
> 
> Thank you for all the amazing and kind comments! I'm so glad that you guys like the first chapter, so here's to hoping ya'll enjoy this one.

After a few moments, and a lot of patting on the back from Jace, Alec is finally able to breathe again although he’s still in shock. 

Magnus Bane was one of the most successful and well known directors in the industry. He’d won several Oscars for his work and even though he should be used to famous people considering he was one, Alec was completely shell-shocked over this news. It might have a little bit to do with the fact that Magnus Bane had been Alec’s childhood crush and he’d admired the guy for _years_. He had only ever dreamed to meet the man, but the fact that Magnus Bane had actually seen his movies and thought him worthy enough to act in one of his own was absolutely unimaginable. People would kill to act in a movie directed by Magnus Bane, and Alec was no different. If he had to fight those other two actors for his spot as the lead role, he would. 

_“Alexander?”_ Raphael questioned, actually sounding concerned. _“You still there?”_

“Yeah,” he squeaked out and then cleared his throat. “Yeah, sorry about that.”

_“So, are you interested in the part?”_

“Yes!” He nearly yells out which startles both Izzy and Jace. He turns red at their bewildered expressions. 

_“Good. I’ll message you all the details tomorrow morning, okay?_

He nods. “Sounds good. Thanks, Raph.” 

_“Of course,” Raphael hums. “Goodnight, Alexander. Get some sleep!”_

Alec says goodnight and hangs up the phone. He’s aware that his siblings are immediately hounding him with questions, demanding he tell them what happened and if it was good or bad news. He doesn’t really hear the words they’re saying though, his mind is still swarming with thoughts of Magnus Bane. 

He’s aware of the fact that he’s ignoring them and probably worrying them, but he can’t help it. He had never, in all his career, expected to ever work with Magnus Bane and even though it’s not a for sure thing, the fact that it _might_ happen is enough for him. 

“Alec!” Izzy punches him on his shoulder and he howls in pain as he’s ripped from his thoughts. “Who was that? Was it Raphael? What did he say?”

“Yes, yes it was him!” He hisses as he brings his hand over to his shoulder and rubs at it gently. Izzy looks a bit sheepish, but doesn’t apologize. “He might have gotten me a new role.”

“Sweet!” Jace says. “For what movie?”

_“Oasis.”_

Izzy squeals as she jumps up and hits him in the shoulder again, this time out of excitement but it doesn't hurt any less. “No way! I loved that book, oh my god!”

“Dude, that’s so sick!”

“Yeah, yeah. It’s not a sure thing, though! I still have to audition and he said the director is looking at two other possible leads.”

Jace rolls his eyes. “Come on, man. Ian Evans is a perfect role for you.”

“You’ve read the book?” Alec asks, a bit shocked, but Jace just shrugs.

“Izzy told me to, it was good; first book I’ve finished in years.”

“Who’s the director?” Isabelle asks with interest. “You really freaked out when he told you who it was.”

“Yeah, man,” Jace agrees. “I thought you were going to give yourself a heart attack.”

Alec rolls his eyes at his brother’s dramatic words, but even the reminder is enough to get his heart racing again. 

“It’s Magnus Bane.” 

Izzy makes this sort of choking/squealing noise, which both scares and amuses Alec while Jace’s jaw just drops to the ground. This is the exact response he had expected from his siblings.

Jace finally lets out a low whistle and shakes his head with amusement. “Holy shit, Alec.”

They’re all a bit speechless. Holy shit indeed. 

**

When Alec finally gets to his own apartment, it’s nearly four in the morning and he’s exhausted. He’d spent all night talking about his “maybe” role with his siblings and then watching a few movies. He has to force himself to shower even though all he wants to do is throw himself onto his king sized bed and sleep for a hundred years. 

The shower does him some good, though. He spends his time in it thinking about his phone call with Raphael. He’s eager for the details on the role. Besides the fact that he’d be working with someone like Magnus Bane, he’s also aware of all the good this role could do him as an actor. It’s not as if he’s unheard of now due to his breakout role in his last movie, but still. Raphael always tells him how he needs to aim for bigger and better and well, this is exactly that. 

He wonders who the other two actors are that Magnus is interested in. He hadn’t thought to ask Raphael about it, but now he’s a bit curious. He likes to know who he’s up against that way he can know what his odds are of getting the role. He wasn’t lying earlier, though. If he had to fight for this role then he would. Never let it be said that Alec Lightwood was not a determined man. 

Once he’s finished up in the shower, he turns off the water and steps out to dry himself off. He feels a million times lighter and takes his time drying off with the soft towels Izzy had gotten him.

He’s still fully naked and hasn’t even dried his hair yet when he falls into bed and drifts off to sleep. 

**

“Look, all I’m saying is that you should really consider getting a pet of some sort. It has to be lonely being in your apartment by yourself all the time.”

Alec rolls his eyes as his brother looks through the different snakes that are currently sleeping in their tanks. “I didn’t come here for a pet and even if I did, I wouldn’t get a _snake_.”

“Why not? They’re pretty.”

“And deadly.” 

He always enjoys coming to the pet store because he likes to see all the dogs and kittens. Jace on the other hand enjoys looking at the snakes and rats. It disgusts Alec is a way nothing else ever has. 

“Didn’t we come here to get some stuff for Izzy’s fish?” Jace shushes Alec and the older boy has had enough of looking at these slimy reptiles. “Fine! I’m going to look at the dogs.” Jace doesn’t even spare him a second glance or acknowledge his words, so Alec just sighs and walks away. 

The dogs aren’t hard to find and Alec is enjoying the company of a little beagle when his phone goes off, altering him of an email. He quickly opens it up and gets nervous and excited when he sees it’s from Raphael. 

“This is it, boy,” he says to the dog who just tilts his head, “let’s see what I’ve got to do to get this part.”

The email is simple. It has a link to a part of the script that Alec needs to practice and the date when he needs to go in for auditions. It’s in exactly one week and that calms his nerves a little bit. A week is more than enough time for him to practice the lines and he feels a bit of confidence. He replies back with his thanks and then locks his phone and puts it back into his pocket. 

The beagle barks and Alec smiles. “Yep! It was my practice script. I think I got this in the bag, don’t you?” The beagle barks again. “I just hope Magnus Bane likes me enough. Could you imagine working with him?” His voice takes on a dreamy tone and the beagle barks once more before laying down. 

“Yo, Alec! Let’s go.” 

Jace must have already paid for everything, because he has a plastic bag in his hand so Alec stands up and bids farewell to his little furry friend before walking off to catch up with his brother.

“I got my lines to practice,” he informs him. “I have a week until the audition.”

“Cool, want some help reading them? I don’t have anything to do this weekend.”

Alec nods and smiles, once again glad for his siblings and all the support they give him. 

“Do you know who the other actors are?” Jace asks once they’ve put everything into the car and are taking off. Alec nods, Raphael had mentioned their names in the email. He hadn’t known who they were, probably small actors looking for a big role, but they must have been good if Magnus Bane was interested in them. Alec tells him this and Jace just snorts.

“No one’s better than you, bro. You’ve got this one in the bag.” 

Alec sure hopes he’s right. 

**

His weekend is dull to the say the least. He spends the entirety of it practicing his lines with either Izzy or Jace and all in all, he thinks he has a really good shot. Raphael texts him constantly to make sure that he’s actually working and isn’t slacking off somewhere.

His week is no more interesting expect that he actually leaves his apartment a few times to meet with his trainer and even does an interview for some magazine. It’s boring and by the time Friday morning rolls around, he’s a bundle of nerves and excitement. His audition is at four, but that didn’t stop him from waking up at the crack of dawn. From the moment he wakes up, he practices his lines over and over again throughout the day. He practices while he runs on his treadmill, while he makes breakfast, while he cleans up his place a bit, and while he showers. He practices so much that the words he’s saying don’t even register to him anymore. 

It’s 2:30 in the afternoon when Raphael comes by to pick him up. He’s dressed in an all black suit, like usual, and looks every bit professional. Alec suddenly feels very underdressed in his faded blue jeans and black sweater. 

Raphael doesn’t think so though and nods in approval when Alec gets in the car. “Dressing for the part? I’m sure Magnus will appreciate the dedication.” 

It’s not entirely true, Alec hadn’t been thinking of his character at all when he’d gotten dressed; he was just too anxious (and a bit lazy) to put any effort into it, but he wasn’t about to admit that. So he nods. 

“You’ve been practicing, right?”

Alec grunts in frustration. “Yes, Raphael! I’ve told you this.”

“Alright then. Let me see.” 

He sighs and for what feels like the millionth time, begins to recite the lines. 

**

When he arrives to the studio, he’s less than pleased to discover that he’s going to be the first one to audition. He hates going first for things, because he feels as if it makes him the easiest to forget. He’d much rather go last, but oh well. Beggars can’t be choosers. Whatever. 

Raphael is giving him a pep talk (that he isn’t paying attention to) while he’s pacing back and forth, anxious as he’s ever been. 

“Stop pacing, Alexander. You need to calm down or else you’re going to go in there nervous and you will mess up.”

“Thanks for the help,” he glares at his manager. 

Raphael doesn’t say anything, just goes back to typing on his phone. Alec does take his advice though and stops pacing. He stands against the wall and closes his eyes as he tries to concentrate and relax. Just as he finally feels at ease again, a voice rings out in the hallway and startles him.

“Alexander Lightwood?” 

He looks up to see a man he doesn’t know, but nods his head anyways. “That’s me.”

The man gives him a once over before walking over to him and extending his hand. “Pleasure to meet you. I’m Ragnor Fell.” Alec shakes his hand and winces. He can feel how clammy his own hands are and he’s embarrassed. However, Ragnor Fell doesn’t seem to take note of it. “Please follow me. I’m the producer and I’ll be conducting the audition with Mr. Bane.” 

Alec drops his hand and follows him down the hallway. He looks back and sees Raphael still sitting on the bench in the hall. His manager is smiling at him and gives him a thumbs up and Alec feels a bit lighter. 

“Mr. Bane is quite excited to meet you.”

The words shock him and he has to refrain from gasping or doing something equally embarrassing like crying out of happiness. 

“He is?”

Ragor just hums. “Yes, he was very intrigued by your performance in your latest movie. Congratulations on the Oscar by the way.” 

Alec isn’t sure what to say, but he’s not sure he could say much right now even if he wanted to so he just nods and lets out a quiet ‘thank you’. 

The hallway seems to go on forever and the silence goes on even longer, but finally after a few turns they end up in front of a glass door. He can faintly see a figure through the glass, but it’s blurred so he isn’t sure if it’s Magnus or someone else. 

Ragnor opens the door for him and with shaky legs and a pounding heart, he walks in. 

The room is pretty small. There’s a table with two chairs and papers stacked up on it and a table with refreshments and that’s about it. It’s kind of creepy and reminds him of something you’d see in an “audition” porno. The thought makes him giggle, but he immediately stops when the figure he’d seen before appears back in his line of view. 

Alec Lightwood has never seen Magnus Bane in person. He’s seen him in pictures and in interviews on TV, but neither did any justice for the beautiful Asian man in front of him. His hair is styled up into a messy quiff, a few dyed hot pink strands falling into his face making him look heavenly. He has his trademark makeup on and from where he’s standing, Alec can see the glitter that covers his eyelids. That’s something the TV and pictures never capture right. He’s tall, taller than Alec had thought he’d be and he has to stop himself from swooning right then and there.

Magnus stares at him for a beat, unmoving and not saying a word. Ranger walks off to the back of the room where there’s another door and leaves, leaving Alec alone with his once teenage crush turned idol. Magnus’ gaze is captivating and Alec can’t do anything except stare back at him blankly, waiting. Finally after what feels like centuries, Magnus smiles and walks towards him. A part of Alec wants to move back, scared and intimidated, but a bigger part wants to walk up to him and do something ridiculous like kiss him. In the end he just stays still. 

“You must be Alexander.” 

Alec can quite literally feel his knees giving out and he wants to scream at the simple sentence. Magnus’ voice is like all of his favorite things wrapped up together and he wants to listen to it on repeat forever. He’s always hated his full name, but if it was Magnus saying it then he’d never heard anything more perfect in his entire life. He wanted to hear Magnus say his name again and again and again and— 

“I’m Magnus. I don’t think we’ve been formally introduced.” 

Alec nearly laughs. As if Magnus needs to ever introduce himself. He doesn’t laugh, though. Instead he attempts to smile, but he’s sure he just looks as if he’s gotten punched in the stomach. 

“Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Bane.” He doesn’t stutter over his words and he feels proud of himself. This pride disappears as Magnus proceeds to throw his head back in laughter. It’s a beautiful sound but Alec frowns, not quite sure what he did to get laughed at. 

Magnus must see his expression because he forces himself to stop laughing, although a wide grin is now on his lips. “I wasn’t laughing at you, I promise. It’s just funny that you’d call me ‘Mr. Bane’. Please, it’s just Magnus.”

Just Magnus. He feels a bit giddy at the fact that Magnus Bane has just given him permission to use his first name, like they’re _friends_.

“Okay,” Alec says softly, shyly. “Pleasure to meet you, Magnus.”

Magnus’ smile softens up and he’s about to say something else, when Ragnor walks back into the room and takes a seat behind the table. 

“Alright. We ready?” 

Magnus looks towards Alec in question. Alec just nods. Magnus turns to Ragnor and nods as well. 

“Good luck,” he whispers and takes his seat next to Ragnor. 

Alec feels a bit self-conscious as he’s left standing alone in the middle of the room. 

“Ready whenever you are,” Ragnor says looking one hundred percent serious. 

Alec’s nerves are acting up again now and he’s not sure he’s ever felt this nervous before; not even when he had been auditioning for his first role. Magnus and Ragnor must pick up on his thoughts, but Ragnor simply raises an eyebrow in question. Magnus, however, looks right at Alec, eyes full of encouragement, and a smile on his face. 

Alec closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and when he opens them again he finally feels calm. 

_“I don’t know who I am anymore or who I’m supposed to be…”_ he gets into character easily enough and he looks past Magnus and Ragnor, but he can feel their eyes on him all the same. The fact that Magnus is watching him, pushes him like nothing ever has and he has to stop himself from grinning because he’s pretty sure he’s going to ace the audition.

**

Waiting for results is hell. He’s pacing again, this time though Raphael is shaking his leg rapidly where he sits on the bench so he knows that he’s not the only nervous one. The last of the competition had finished five minutes ago and now he has nothing left to do but wait. 

He’s pretty sure he did good. In fact, he doesn’t think he’s ever knocked an audition out like that before. He made sure to put his all into it and he really hoped that he had impressed both Magnus and Ragnor. He knew though, that the other two actors had probably been just as good as him, maybe even better, and that unsettled him. 

He had texted both Izzy and Jace in their group chat and had let them know he was just waiting to see who they picked now. Izzy had texted back that they’d go out to celebrate as soon as he got the news that he’d gotten the part and Alec loved her for being so optimistic. Jace had sent back that even if he didn’t get the part, they’d still go out and get drunk to make him forget about it. Alec had rolled his eyes at the text, but he knew his brother meant well.

He looked up from his phone and saw Raphael was now talking to someone on his cell, probably about Alec. He took note of the two actors who had also auditioned. They were both seated down on chairs against the wall, looking calm and collected and Alec wondered how the hell they weren’t freaking out right now. 

He was just about to begin his pacing again, when Magnus came into view. There was a smile on his face and he had a script in his hand. Alec heart began to pound against his chest and he felt as if he couldn’t breathe. He could practically feel his heartbeat in his ears and his entire body felt as if it was on fire. Raphael barked out a goodbye to the person on the phone and made his way to stand next to Alec. He placed a hand on Alec’s shoulder, and the younger man was shocked to feel that his manager’s hands were just a tad bit clammy and shaky. The two actors stood up as well and stood in front of Magnus, faces blank but anxious at the same time. 

“First of all, thank you to all three of you for coming. I picked each of you due to your incredible acting skills that I’ve seen ya’ll portray on screen. Each of you were absolutely amazing, but sadly only one of you can have the part.”

Alec felt a bit like he was on some sort of reality TV show and was about to discover whether or not he was getting voted off. 

Magnus cleared his voice. “Okay, I don’t want to drag this out so let me just go ahead and congratulate you already.”

Alec sucked in a deep breath, but before he could do anything else like close his eyes or run out of the room, Magnus turned to him and shoved the script into his hands. Alec’s jaw dropped and he just looked down slowly at it. He saw Raphael shake Magnus’ hand from the corner of his eye and he took note of Magnus apologizing to the other two actors. However, he couldn’t really hear what was going on because all he could hear was the sound of his heart beating against his chest. He was still zoned out and staring at the script when a delicate, yet firm hand reached out and placed itself onto his bicep, squeezing. He looked up, still in shock, to see Magnus grinning at him and Jesus, whose smile was _that_ perfect? 

“Congratulations, Alexander. We’ll be in touch.” He squeezed his arm once more before walking off and Alec just stared at him, mouth still slightly open. 

Raphael placed his hand under Alec’s chin and pushed up causing him to close his mouth. “You good?” 

Alec just turned to him, eyes wide. “I got the part.” 

“You did. Congratulations. I knew you could do it.” 

“You did?” 

“Of course,” he said with an eye roll. 

“How?” 

“I’m your manager. I know these things.” 

Alec just gave him a look and Raphael sighed.

“You’re an amazing actor, Alec and we all know you were made to play this part. I never once doubted you.” 

Alec blushes and smiles at the praise. Raphael Santiago wasn’t one to throw praise out often, so when he did, Alec was sure to take it. 

“You celebrating tonight?” 

This knocked Alec out of his daze and he nodded his head. “Oh my god, yes! I need to call Izzy and Jace! We’re probably going to go out for drinks. Do you want to come?”

Despite the fact that he was his manager, Raphael was also a very close friend of Alec’s. He was probably the only person Alec had met in LA that he had actually introduced to both of his siblings. Even though Raphael was a bit quiet and closed off, they all got along together well. 

“Sure,” he agreed easily. “I need to go home first though. Text me when and where.” 

“Alright, great!” 

Raphael smiles. “Now call your siblings before they go crazy.” 

When Alec does call them, they go crazy anyways but Alec doesn’t care. He’s yelling and laughing along with them. 

**

“I love this song!”

Jace is currently drunk off his ass and grinding the air as the rest of them laugh at him. Izzy’s recording him and she’s probably uploading the videos to her social media, but Alec is sure that Jace is too far gone to notice. 

“This song sucks.”

Jace gasps and actually throws his left hand up over his mouth at Raphael’s words. “What did you just say?” 

Everyone cracks up at the absolutely appalled tone of his voice and Raphael just smirks. Alec is fairly certain that his favorite activity is ticking Jace off and he does it perfectly.

“I said you should do another shot.” 

Jace’s facial features soften and he smiles, nodding his head so hard that it hurts Alec to watch. “You’re right! I’ll be back!” He takes off to the bar, leaving the other three to shake their heads at his drunken actions.

Izzy is giggling to herself and typing away at her phone.

“Are you uploading that onto your Twitter?” Alec asks. Izzy doesn’t answer, she just smirks down at her phone. “He’s going to be pissed when he sobers up.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she waves him off. “He’ll get over it. He secretly loves the attention.”

Alec rolls his eyes, but lets it go as he sips at his drink. They haven’t been here long, but Jace somehow managed to get himself drunk already. Izzy’s tipsy herself, but Alec and Raphael are still coherent enough to take in their surroundings and actions. 

“Hey, hey! Look who I found!” 

They all turn their heads at Jace’s voice. He’s dragging along a boy with him that Alec has never seen before. He looks young, really young, and Alec wonders if he’s even old enough to be in this place. He turns to Raphael, wondering if he might know him, but he just shakes his head. He’s about to ask just who the hell Jace “found”, when Izzy jumps up suddenly, squealing in happiness. 

“Oh, Simon! Hey!” She throws her arms around the boy who hugs her back a bit warily. Whoever this guy is, he must not be too comfortable with her yet.

“Simon?” Alec questions.

“He’s the one I told you about! Remember in the car?”

He has to search his brain for a moment, but finally he can faintly recall her bringing up a new friend her and Jace had made. “Oh, right. Simon. What’s up, man? I’m Alec Lightwood.” He extends his hand to Simon, who looks at it with awe before taking it. 

“Nice to meet you, dude. I am such a huge fan! I loved you in _Redemption_.” 

Alec tenses up a bit. He loves meeting fans, he does, but he doesn’t like when he meets a fan who wants to be his friend. It’s not like he has anything against them really, but it’s always hard to tell who wants to be his friend for him and who wants to be his friend for _Alexander Lightwood_. However, if this guy is with Izzy and Jace then he can’t be all that bad, so Alec gives him a chance. 

“Thanks! I appreciate that.” He smiles and Simon seems to relax at that. “Wanna sit? We’re celebrating.” 

“Sure! What are you celebrating?” 

Alec glances to Raphael real quick, making sure it’s okay if he mentions his new role and Raphael just nods. 

“I got picked up for a new movie today.”

Simon grins. “Oh, sweet! Congrats, that’s so badass!”

Raphael snorts, probably amused by this kid and all his energy. Simon looks at him a bit puzzled, but the smile never leaves his face. 

“This is Raphael,” Alec says as he points to his friend. “He’s my manager, but also my friend.” 

“Nice to meet you!”

“I’m sure,” Raphael says. To anyone else it might sound cold and rude, but Alec knows Raphael so he’s aware of the amused tone that laces his words. Simon however, doesn’t know Raphael so he looks a bit put off by it, but he doesn’t stop smiling.

Jace slides into the VIP booth next to Simon and throws an arm around him. “So what have you been up to, buddy?”

Simon launches into a descriptive speech of his week that Alec tunes out. He focuses his attention on the hundreds of people below them that are dancing and grinding against each other. Briefly he wishes that he could be there, dancing and grinding against someone, but he pushes the thought away immediately. He’s not interested in random hookups and he’s as single as can be, so he knows there will be no dancing for him anytime soon. It’s not as if he can even dance anyway. 

When he tunes back into the conversation, Raphael and Simon are having a heated discussion over space. He’s not sure how the subject got changed to that, but he finds that he really doesn’t care. 

“Dude, drink!” Jace slides him over a shot glass. Alec would typically turn it down, but he was in a mood right now and besides, he just landed a role in what would possibly be the movie of the year. He deserves to get drunk. 

He picks up the shot glass and Jace and Izzy cheer loudly. They all clink their glasses together and Alec throws his head back as he downs it. It takes like fire and burns his throat the entire way down, but it satisfies him and he grabs another. 

**

When he wakes up the next morning, it’s to a loud and insistent ringing. He attempts to roll over to search his bed sheets for his phone and is immediately thrown off when he lands himself on the cold, wooden floor. 

He sits up and scratches at his head as he blinks his eyes to steady his vision. Once he takes in his surroundings, he realizes that he’s in his siblings’ apartment which means he had probably gotten a little too drunk last night. 

The ringing starts up again and he groans. A look at the clock informs him that it’s eleven in the morning and he wants to scream at whoever would call him at this ungodly hour. With a huff, he unlocks his phone not even bothering to check who the caller is.

“Hello?” He snaps out, a lot harsher than he normally would.

_“Woah,”_ a playful voice says. _“Someone seems a bit grumpy.”_

Alec can’t quite place the voice and he make himself focus on it. “Who is this?”

_“Oh! It’s me.”_ Alec waits, not knowing who ‘me’ is. _“Magnus Bane.”_

He sits up straight suddenly which throws him off and makes his head spin. He wills himself to sober up and get his shit together. 

“Oh, Magnus! Sorry, I was uh, asleep.”

_“No need to apologize. Long night I’m assuming?”_

Alec hums. “I was celebrating.”

_“As you should. That’s why I called actually. Be at the studio by 10 AM tomorrow. We’re going to go over lines and you can meet the other cast members.”_

Alec wants to cry at the fact that he’ll have to wake up early, but he forces himself to keep it together. “Okay, sounds good.”

_“Great! Rest up and take some Advil. I don’t want you feeling poorly while we’re rehearsing.”_

His voice is light—joking—and Alec attempts to laugh, but it hurts his head too much so he just kind of grunts instead. Magnus finds it funny though and _he_ laughs. The noise sounds beautiful to Alec and he wishes he could listen to it all day long.

_“I’ll see you tomorrow, Alexander.”_

Before he can say anything back, the line goes dead. He tosses his phone to the love seat in the room and throws himself back onto the couch, groaning into a pillow before falling back asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as always, thank you for reading and feel free to come talk to me on [tumblr](http://camelotskingz.tumblr.com), I get very bored. :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so originally I had planned for this chapter to be longer but I'm currently in Los Angeles, nursing my sister back to health after a nose job so I'm pretty busy and wasn't sure when I'd get a chance finish the whole chapter and post it, so I just cut it into two pieces. I hope you guys still enjoy it!

When Alec walked onto the film set the next day, he was immediately hit with a feeling of exhilaration. Apparently he had been the last character Magnus and Ragnor had needed to find, so everything was pretty much set in place and ready to go. There were people running around after famous stars that Alec had only ever dreamed of meeting. Upon these actors and actresses was Hollywood’s Sweetheart, Clary Fairchild. 

Everyone knew who Clary Fairchild was, famous or not. She was the protege of her mother, Jocelyn Fairchild, who was one of the biggest actresses of her time. Clary had been acting since she was a child, despite her mother’s displeasure tabloids often recalled, and Alec had always loved her work when he was growing up. When he had found out she’d be playing the role of his best friend in the movie, he had needed a moment to soak it all in. 

He wasn’t sure what he had expected Clary Fairchild to be; probably a little stuck up due to her famous upbringing if he was honest, but nothing could have prepared him for actually meeting her. 

He had been standing by himself at the food table, munching on a little cucumber sandwich when he heard a loud gasp from behind him and the sound of heels tapping away against the floor. He hadn’t thought to turn around, thinking that whoever it was had probably just seen a friend or something, so imagine his surprise when a flash of red entered his vision as a tiny girl brought him in for a hug. 

He coughed as his sandwich went down the wrong pipe due to his being off guard, and he even dropped the rest of it. He was about to start asking some serious questions, when the small person drew away from him and with a shock, he was met with Clary Fairchild herself.

“Oh my god, hi!” She greeted with a smile and dancing eyes. “You’re Alec Lightwood! I didn’t believe them when they said you were the one who got the part!”

Alec stayed quiet. He wasn’t sure if that was an insult or not.

“Not because you’re not talented or anything!” She quickly rushed out, which made him feel a little better. “But because you usually do action movies, which I am a huge fan of by the way!” 

“You are?” He was a little thrown off by the whole thing, but especially by the fact that _The_ Clary Fairchild was a fan of him, the measly little Alec Lightwood. First Magnus, now her, who was next?

“Well, of course!” She bent down to pick up his forgotten sandwich from the floor and turned to toss it in the trash. “Magnus knows I’m such a big fan and he’d been teasing me about it for a while. I don’t know why he thinks he can, though. He seems to find you pretty interesting to, if my lunch with him yesterday was anything to go by.”

Alec’s faces heats up at the thought of Magnus finding him interesting. Sure, he was used to guys (and girls, but what was the point when you were 100% gay?) constantly throwing themselves at him, but he never really paid much attention to any of them. However, Magnus Bane was definitely someone he was paying attention to. 

“You’re uh, you’re close with Magnus?”

Clary looked up and seemed to take note of his red face and how he had diverted his eyes to the ground, but she let out a small chuckle that honestly sounded a bit evil, like the way Isabelle laughs when she’s up to no good. 

“Oh, I see,” she said slyly and Alec looked up at her. 

“See what?”

She was still smirking and was about to reply when a loud voice interrupted her. 

“Clarissa! You need to stop running off!” 

Clary’s eyes widened for a bit before she groaned and rolled them. A tall, built, dark man marched up to both of them with a glare on his face. 

“I was just meeting Alec, Luke.” She turned to Alec and pointed to Luke. “Alec, this is Luke: my stepfather.”

Alec was very aware of who Luke Garroway was, but he still held out his hand, politely as ever. Luke’s glare seemed to ease up at this, although he wasn’t smiling, and he took Alec’s hand before shaking it. 

“Nice to meet you! We’re all really excited to have you on board.”

“Thank you, sir.” 

Clary laughed at his words and it threw him off. Even Luke was smiling now as he pulled his hand back and honestly, Alec wished people would stop laughing at him especially when he was just being polite. 

“Sorry, son,” Luke says. “It’s just no one really calls me ‘sir’. Just stick to Luke.”

Alec nods, but he can’t help to be reminded of Magnus telling him something similar. 

Luke turns his attention back to Clary, this time with a frown, and clears his voice. “I’m serious, though, young woman. This is a big set, you—“

“I could what? Get lost? I’m twenty, not two. I’ll be fine.” She reaches out to Alec and grabs hold of his shoulder. “See, I’m with Alec Lightwood now and you saw him in _Redemption_. No one’s going to mess with us.” 

Alec wants to point out that he did indeed have a stuntman on the set of the movie, but he doesn’t dare go against the redhead. Luke’s glare even seems to ease up and with a sigh he finally throws his hands up into the air. 

“Fine, fine! But stay on set. Magnus wants to sit down with everyone to run over lines in a bit.” Clary smiles and waves off his words as she grabs onto Alec and yanks him away from the food table. He tries to wave goodbye to Luke, but when he turns around the older man is already walking away with his back to them.

“He is so overprotective,” Clary sighs as she leads him to a different group of people. She’s smiling as she says it and doesn’t sound at all annoyed even if that’s what she’s trying to portray. For a moment Alec is hit with a feeling of sadness. His own parents had never been the type to be protective and worry when he went out. They weren’t strict and usually gave him free rein when he was younger. His friends had always whined about how he was so lucky to have parents who weren’t strict and demanding to know where he was 24/7, but he disagreed. He would have loved to have his parents worry and stress over him, to show him that if he did in fact get lost they would care. 

If they had worried about him or shown any slight interest in his whereabouts, it all disappeared when he moved to California. He tries to remember when the last time he spoke to them was, but he can’t recall it. He forces himself to push those thoughts to the back of his mind and focused on what was going on around him. 

Clary is talking animatedly to another girl who has short black hair and tanned skin. She reminds him a bit of Isabelle, except this girl has green eyes where Izzy’s are brown. 

“Alec,” Clary calls, waving him over. “This is Anna. She’s playing Ren.” 

Alec nods. Ren was the girl who would play Ian Evans’ love interest, although she didn’t come out until the very end and was a brief character. _Oasis_ focused a lot more on friendship rather than finding love, which Alec was thankful for. Clary was right when she said he usually did action movies so he wasn’t very sure he’d be any good in a romance one. 

“Nice to meet you,” he greeted. He didn’t know who Anna was, but she seemed to know who he was by the way her eyes lit up.

“Right back at you,” she replied. “My brother is a huge fan of yours. Could I possibly get an autograph? He’d kill me if I didn’t.” 

Alec nodded. “Sure, yeah. No problem.” It always threw him off when people told him things like that. Sure, he knew that a lot more people would notice him as he continued his career and worked on bigger roles, but still. It was incredible to think of the fact that he had fans, people who actually liked him for once. He hadn’t been so popular, or even _liked_ , when he was in school so this was all very new to him. 

He spent the next thirty minutes walking around with Clary and Anna. They seemed to be very close and Alec wondered if there was anyone that Clary Fairchild didn’t know or get along with immediately. He was introduced to a few more cast members, all who welcomed him with smiles, and as the minutes passed by he began to feel a lot more comfortable, even going as far as to joke around with Clary and Anna. 

Before he knew it, Magnus had appeared in front of him, dressed up beautifully and a wicked grin on his face. 

“Alexander,” he greeted. “Everyone treating you nice?” 

Despite the fact that this was now the fourth conversation he was having with him, Alec still couldn’t help but to feel a bit intimidated by the older man. He was starting to feel like it had a lot less to do with the fact that Magnus was a big time director and more to do with the fact that Magnus was so damn attractive. 

Alec was very, _very_ aware of his sexuality and had been for a long time. However, he never really acted on it. Sure he had seen his fair share of cute guys, but Alec was the type of guy who wouldn’t go for something if he didn’t see it working out long-term. So far he hadn’t met anyone who made him want to try. He was also aware of the fact that he knew next to nothing about Magnus Bane, and he was even more aware of the fact that he was just some young, heart eye actor to Magnus. Magnus who had probably dealt with a lot of people like Alec throughout his lifetime, but still. Alec was allowed to look and admire. There was no harm there.

“Y-yeah, they’re great.” He internally curses at himself for stuttering, but Magnus doesn’t seem to laugh at him or even take notice of it, so he decides he can forgive himself for it. 

“I’m glad. I told Ragnor you’d be an excellent addition to the cast! There was just no other choice.” 

Alec gloats at the praise but looks away. 

Magnus clicks his tongue. “For an actor, you are very shy, Alexander.” 

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Magnus smiles. “It’s nice, refreshing even. You’re not like the rest of them.” 

Alec’s thrown off by the words. Magnus obviously means them as a compliment, but he’s not sure if that’s how he wants to take them. Shouldn’t he want to be like everyone else? He was always thrown to the side for being different when he was younger and spent so long trying to be like everyone else. It was weird to see someone actually like him for being different. 

“Clary doesn’t seem to be like the rest of them,” he says, wanting the attention off of himself. It seems to work by the way Magnus scoffs and rolls his eyes.

“Yes, well Clarissa knows better than to have an attitude with me. I was changing her diapers and taking care of her before that little wild card even knew how to walk.” 

Alec laughs, trying to imagine Magnus Bane changing someone’s diaper. He can’t. “So you’ve always known her?”

“I have,” he hums. “Her mom and I go way back.” 

Alec just nods, not sure what else to say. It doesn’t turn out to be that much of a mood killer, though because Magnus takes his hand and leads him over to where everyone else is. 

“Come on. I want to talk to everyone before we go over lines.”

The feeling of Magnus’ warm skin holding onto his own sends chills over his body and he hopes that Magnus doesn’t notice the way he shivers. He wants to grip Magnus’ hand back and hold onto it forever, but before he can, Magnus lets go. Alec immediately feels sad at the loss of warmth in his now cold and empty hand. 

Magnus addresses the crowd, but Alec isn’t really paying attention. He hates how he aches to reach out and grab the older man’s hand again. Alec doesn’t even _know_ Magnus, not really at least and he definitely shouldn’t be feeling this kind of pull to him. It’s weird and Magnus would definitely freak out if he knew how Alec was feeling. 

“Alec!” Clary yells, snapping him out of his thoughts. “You okay? You zoned out.” 

He looks around and sure enough, everyone is scattered out again as they all begin to work on different things. He turns around and is sad to see that Magnus must have left after he finished his speech. Alec immediately misses his presence and then immediately feels annoyed with himself for feeling that way. 

“I’m good,” he says in reply to Clary. “Sorry.”

“It’s cool, I’m a bit tired myself.” He doesn’t tell her that his zoning out has nothing to do with lack of sleep, but just nods instead. “Come on, Magnus wants us to all go over some lines with him and Ragnor.”

He nods and follows her, this time hating the happiness he feels that he’ll be around Magnus again. 

**

All in all, it goes as well as a first day on set can go. There were a few bumps with some actors not being able to get their lines down and a few crew members having some technical problems, but nothing that couldn’t be fixed. Alec didn’t talk to Magnus for the rest of the day, not alone at least, and he feels a little down about it. 

He does however, spend plenty of time with Clary. She’s vibrant and full of life in a way that definitely reminds him of Isabelle and he could really see the two getting along. He makes a note to himself that he’ll definitely have to introduce her to his brother and sister soon. 

When he gets home, it’s around ten o’clock and he checks his phone to see if he has any notifications. Sure enough, there are a few from Izzy and Jace both wishing him good luck and demanding that he call to let them know how everything went. He holds off on the call and sends them a long text instead, making sure to hit every detail. Izzy sends him back a text saying that she’s glad he had fun. Jace, of course, seems to only take note of the fact that Clary Fairchild is his costar and his text back includes a lot of heart eye emojis with the water droplets next to them. Alec isn’t sure how to respond to that, so he decides to ignore him. 

Raphael had left him a text too with a simple ‘have a good day on set!’ so Alec responds back letting him know that he did. 

Other than that and a few emails, his phone is rid of notifications. He checks his Twitter and sees a lot of mentions about his new role and people congratulating him. He decides to favorite a few and even responds back to some. He does this for a few minutes before closing out of the app and locking his phone. 

When he puts his phone down, he realizes just how quiet and empty his apartment is. He lives alone, for obvious reasons, and doesn’t have any kind of pets so his apartment is always silent and untouched, but he had never really noticed it until now. 

He takes in the silence and usually it would calm him, but tonight it seems to upset him. For once he almost wishes that he had someone to be loud with, to make messes with, to argue with; someone who could just bring life to this place. 

Isabelle often complained about his apartment, saying that it was so empty and lifeless and sad. That’s why she always made them go over to her place when they hung out. Alec had always disagreed with her—he loved his quiet time—but now he could really see where she was coming from. Deciding that his thoughts were getting too depressing, even for him, he stood up and walked over to his bathroom. A shower could always ease his mind and maybe tonight he would just go to sleep early. 

After all, what else was there for him to do?

**

Breakfast with Isabelle was always interesting. She always insisted on going to different little cafes and such around the city because, “ _The city is big, Alec. We have to try as much as we can!”_

He wasn’t usually up so early, or if he was then he had to work, but today was one of those days where he was up before ten and didn’t have to be at the set until after one. They were working the smaller parts this morning and weren’t going to be focusing on the main characters until the afternoon, which gave Alec sometime to himself. 

Which had ended him up in some little muffin shop where he was now sipping a kale smoothie as Izzy looked on with a disgusted stare. 

“What?” He sighed, finally having enough of her staring at him like he’d personally offended her.

“You’re drinking kale for breakfast.”

“And?” He questioned as he lifted an eyebrow. 

“Who drinks kale for breakfast?”

“Me,” he deadpanned as he lifted the drink to his lips and took a long and exaggerated sip of it. Her nose scrunched up and she ripped a piece of her muffin off and shoved it into her mouth as if she had just tasted the drink and needed to rid the taste from her mouth. 

“You’re disgusting,” she said with her mouth still full of the piece of muffin. 

“Says the one chewing with her mouth open! Kale is both delicious and healthy and—“

Izzy let out a loud laugh, cutting off Alec and attracting a few customer’s attention. Alec narrowed his eyes at her, already knowing she wasn’t going to say anything nice. Sure enough he was right. 

“‘Kale is both delicious and healthy!’ You sound like one of those health videos they used to make us watch in school.” 

He snorts and shakes his head. 

“You know I’m right!” Izzy laughs and he can’t help himself from breaking out into a grin and laughing along with her.

“Whatever. They’re still good.” 

Izzy doesn’t even argue back with him. When he looks at her, she’s just smiling at him; a soft and caring thing and he feels a bit embarrassed to have her looking at him with so much emotion. 

She must seem to take notice of this because she sits up straight and places her elbows on the small table as she looks at him with interest. “So who’s the coolest person you’ve met on set so far?”

He has to think about it for a moment before he finally finds an honest answer that isn't Magnus Bane. 

“Luke Garroway.” 

He watches with amusement as his sister’s mouth falls open, thankfully rid of the muffin. She looks at him, unblinking, before she screeches and he winces. The girl who’s standing behind the counter glares at them and Alec is more than positive that they’re about to get kicked out. 

“You didn’t tell me you were working with Luke freaking Garroway!” 

Alec cowers away from her glare, but he’s smirking. He had known that Izzy would flip out when she found out he had met him. “Technically I’m not working with him. I just met him because he’s Clary’s stepdad and he was there the first day.” 

Izzy still looks starstruck, but who could blame her? She’d been a huge fan of Luke’s movies since she was little. Alec could practically feel her excitement and he could tell she had a million and one questions to ask. Thankfully she didn’t. 

“Wow,” she breathes out. “I can’t believe you go out and do all these cool things and meet all these great people.” To anyone else, he’s aware that she might have sounded jealous, but he knew that wasn’t the case at all. He knew she meant everything sincerely.

He chooses not to say anything about himself, instead he changes the subject back to her. “And you? Are you still sticking with fashion design?”

She lights up at his interest in her studies. “Yeah! I actually am. I’ve been practicing a little bit, making Jace a few scarfs and even a shirt. He likes them, so I’m guessing I must be alright.”

“Alright? Izzy, I’m sure you're amazing. Why haven’t you made me anything yet?” He pouts at her. 

“What would you like?”

He hums, thinking it over for a bit. “A shirt! I’m doing an interview next week that I can wear it to. Think you’re up for it?”

She smiles, a truly happy thing and he feels good to be the one to put it on her face. “You’re on! Are you sure you want to wear something of mine? It won’t be designer, you know.”

He just rolls his eyes. “Izzy, the shirt I’m wearing right now is from my sophomore year of college and I’m pretty sure I got it at Target.”

Izzy looks down at his shirt. “Target has great clothes.” 

“It really does,” he says, laughing. 

**

Izzy and him spend the rest of the morning walking around and window shopping. Alec doesn’t see anything that catches his eye, but Izzy ends up going home with a new pair of shoes and some cute socks.

When he gets to set, everyone is doing their own thing. They’ve been filming for a week already so everyone pretty much knows where to go and what to do by this time. It’s for this exact reason that he knows he can find Clary hanging around by the food table. 

Sure enough he spots her chewing on some grapes and makes his way over to her. He’s quiet about it and when he notices that she’s not facing him, he decides to have a bit of fun. He goes up from behind her and taps her sides quickly, yelling out a “hey!” Clary gasps and drops her half bitten grape to the floor. 

When she turns around, she glares at him. “You jerk! I dropped my grape.”

“Remember when you attacked me my first day here and I dropped my sandwich? Because I do.”

Clary rolls her eyes and picks up the grape before tossing it to the trash next to her. “Whatever. What’s up?”

He begins to tell her about his morning, just filling her in on his life. One of the things that he likes about Clary is that she actually listens to him. It’s something he isn’t used to, so he takes advantage of it. 

They talk for a while before Clary tells him that she needs to go to makeup. Alec waves her off and looks around for someone else to bother. He doesn’t have to wait long though, before someone’s come up to him. 

“Hello, Alexander.” 

It makes him feel a bit warm, how Magnus always sounds so proper and elegant. Alec turns to face him and is a bit surprised by the older man’s outfit. He’s not dressed up fancy like he usually is. Today he’s just wearing a pair of black pants with a very low-cut silk shirt with his usual jewelry. His makeup is done perfectly and his hair is styled to perfection as usual. He looks both comfortable and classy. Alec’s mouth waters a bit. 

“Magnus.” He greets. “Don’t you have people to be directing?” Over the past week, he’s talked with Magnus a bit and each time he finds it easier to joke around with him. He likes the fact that he doesn’t have to hold himself back around the other man. It’s a great feeling. 

“It’s called a break, my dear.” 

Alec’s heart clenches a bit at the pet name. He wants to believe that Magnus is saying it with purpose, with a meaning behind it, but he knows that the reality of that is very slim. So he just ignores it. 

“How’s rehearsing today?”

He listens with interest as Magnus tells him about the morning and how they had to do a six second scene over twenty times because the actors just couldn’t get the lines right. He listens as Magnus pouts over spilling coffee all over his shirt before he left his house, which is why he isn’t dressed up. He listens to all this and more and he finds that he could probably listen to Magnus talk forever.

“Are you excited?” Magnus asks, turning the attention back to Alec like he usually did. “Today’s the day we really start filming your scenes.”

“Yeah. I’m a bit nervous too.” 

And he was. He felt like he could act in a hundred movies and win a hundred awards and he’d still always be nervous. It wasn’t his fault though, and he didn’t mean to get that way. It just always hit him that he needed to be his absolute best and get his character down perfectly or else he worried that everyone would hate him. He never wanted that to happen, but he especially didn’t want it to happen now since this was Magnus’ movie. He wanted to impress the older, more experienced man. He wanted to show him that he was worth it; that Magnus had chose the right guy. 

“I’d imagine so,” Magnus said softly. “But you’re an amazing actor, Alexander. You’ll be perfect. I know it.” 

Alec smiles at the words and for once, he believes them. He usually just ignores when people tell him things like that, because he knows they say it just because it’s what he wants to hear. But with Magnus he feels like the other man is saying it because it’s what he truly believes. So Alec believes him too.

“Have you been to makeup yet?” 

Alec shakes his head. 

“Well, you probably should.” 

Alec can’t admit to him that he doesn’t want to. He wants to stay here and talk to Magnus. He never really has time to talk with him and while that’s probably normal and no one else is going out of their way to try and get all of Magnus’ attention, Alec can’t help himself. So, on a whim, he asks Magnus to come with him. 

The older man looks a bit thrown off and Alec wants to take back the words as soon as he says them, but Magnus doesn’t let him. 

“Sure.” He says, smile on his face. “I can make sure they don’t change you up too much. I like you just the way you are.” He sings it out, and Alec laughs along with him like it’s a joke even though he wishes it wasn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading and as always, feel free to [bother me](http://camelotskingz.tumblr.com)! :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> all and any mistakes are mine! enjoy :)

It never ceases to amaze Alec just how long it takes to actually do his hair and makeup. You’d think that it would all be very quick considering he was a guy and there was a lot less to work with, but nope. Apparently, according to Magnus, his hair was a lot to work with. Alec would have usually been a bit thrown off by a statement like that, but when Magnus made sure to add how much he liked Alec’s wild hair, he just smiled. 

He’s been told several times now by his stylist that he needs to sit still and stop laughing, but he can’t help it. Magnus is sitting on the counter across from him and making funny faces while joking around and really, how can he _not_ smile? 

“Stop laughing, Alexander,” Magnus snaps at him even though his smile is bright. “It’s not funny!” 

“Really? It’s not?” 

Magnus had been telling him of past memories when he had just started to work as a director and apparently, he had been a bit of a mess. 

“I was so embarrassed I left the set and didn’t return for an hour.” 

This sends Alec into another fit of laughter and he hardly pays attention when his stylist, Megan, lets out an exasperated sigh as she pulls her hands away from his face. 

“That’s it!” She exclaims. “I give up.” 

Alec looks back up at her, taken off guard, and is about to apologize whenever Magnus hops off the counter and stands next to him.

“Good! He looks great as he is. He doesn’t need any makeup.” 

Megan rolls her eyes, but she doesn't look like she’s about to argue. Alec on the other hand, doesn’t feel the same way. 

“Wait, no, I’m sorry. You can continue, I’ll stop messing around.”

Megan looks like she’s about to move back in front of him, but Magnus just shakes his head. 

“She’s done, you look great, Alec.” 

He turns towards Megan, and while she’s glaring at Magnus, she still nods her head in agreement. “He’s right. You do. I was pretty much finished anyways.” 

“See!” Magnus grins, “All done. Let’s go. It’s time to work!”

 

_His heart is pounding and he can’t breathe. He remembers faintly that as some point in his life, someone once told him that you only ever experience real heartbreaking pain once in your life. They said that when you felt it, you’d never forget the feeling. It’s like having everything you ever wanted and then having it ripped right from your hands. It’s like getting hit with every bad feeling you’ve ever felt… twice. The thing is, Ian’s felt all that and more and still nothing compares to how he feels right now in this moment._

_He’d always imagined that if he ever found himself in a situation like this, that he’d just break down crying where he stood. But he didn’t. He stool still, absolutely frozen as he tried his hardest to focus on whatever was being said to him._

_He can’t really take in what’s going on around him and he doesn’t hear much either. All he can focus on is his heartbeat and the pounding that seems to be in every inch of his body._

_He isn’t sure how long he stands there, completely zoned out, but when he looks up he sees that the doctor isn’t there anymore. It’s just him. Slowly, he turns around, face still blank of any emotion._

_“Ian.”_

_In a flash Emily Kane, his best friend, is by his side. Something links through his fingers and he looks down to see Emily holding his hand. It’s usually warm and comforting, but now it just feels so heavy as if it’s pulling him down._

_“Ian, I’m right here. I’m here.”_

“CUT!”

Alec pulls his hand away from Clary’s and they both turn to Magnus. He’s chewing on a pencil and he looks a bit wild. His right foot is tapping against the floor rapidly as he looks between the two actors. 

“Clary, sweetie, I need you to _really_ deliver that line, okay? It’s the line that’s supposed to break Ian’s character down. It’s that line that finally allows him to feel and take everything in. It needs to be said fiercely.” Clary nods at Magnus’ words. 

“You want to put all of your emotion into that one line.” 

“Got it!” She says as she walks off screen. 

Magnus is still looking around the set, probably to make sure there’s nothing else that’s unsatisfactory. Alec stays where he is for a moment before his feet take over and he makes his way to where Magnus is standing. 

“How was I?” 

Magnus yelps and jumps up, dropping his pencil and scaring Alec in the process. Alec’s eyes widen, momentarily worried that he’s officially messed up by scaring the older man. Luckily he doesn’t have to worry long. When Magnus stands up straight and turns around, he has a hand over his heart and is laughing softly. 

“You scared me,” he accused, panting. “You’re a sneak.”

It’s a funny thing to call someone and it makes Alec laugh. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. I just wanted to make sure I was doing alright. It’s a pretty big scene after all.”

“Yes, it is. Don’t worry though, you’re doing great!”

“Really?” He asks, biting at his lip. It’s a nervous habit and it really shows in this moment. Magnus just rolls his eyes.

“I don’t know if anyone’s every told you before, but you play broody and broken teenager really well, Alexander.” 

“I’m twenty-four,” he deadpans. 

Magnus’ eyes widen before he starts laughing loudly and really, Alec doesn’t know what’s so funny about that sentence. 

“Oh, my darling, of course you are.” He pats Alec’s arm softly, even tightening his grip on Alec’s bicep for a second before letting go. He immediately finds himself missing Magnus’ warmth once more. “You just have such a baby face.”

“What?” He exclaims. “I do not!” 

Magnus just stares at him pointedly and Alec frowns even harder.

“I don’t.” He presses. 

Magnus opens his mouth, but before anything can come out of it, Clary is yelling at them and breaking their little bubble.

“Hurry it up, Magnus!” 

He turns quickly and glares at Clary who’s giving him an evil smile. Magnus yells something back to her and the two start laughing, but Alec isn’t really pay attention. Every time he finds himself getting lost in Magnus and forgetting who they are and what they’re doing, it sucks to have to pull himself back into reality. 

He knows that he has no right to be upset that he doesn’t get to have all of Magnus’ attention on him 24/7, but he still is. It’s stupid, but he can’t help himself. He tells himself over and over again that it’s just because Magnus is super famous and was once one of his idols, but sometimes it feels like he’s repeating the words in his mind for the fun of it; not because he believes them. 

Magnus yells for everyone to get back in their places. Alec glances around the set and when his eyes land on Clary, she’s giving him a funny look. She doesn’t look like she’s mad. With her eyebrows furrowed and her mouth scrunched up to the side, she looks like she’s confused and unsure. 

Alec wonders what would make her feel like that, but before he can even think to do anything, Magnus yells action and he’s torn from his thoughts and thrown into his character’s.

 

“I am so tired!” 

He rolls his eyes at Clary’s words. She’s been complaining for the past thirty minutes about how exhausted she is and she’s just making Alec antsy now. It’s ten and they were supposed to leaving thirty minutes ago, but they couldn't get one of the scenes right and had to do it over several times. 

“Yes, we heard you the first fifty times, biscuit.” 

Clary just whines at Magnus’ dismissive tone. Alec scratches at the back of his neck as he rolls it around, trying to get out all of the kinks. Truth is, he’s really tired too and his legs hurt. It’s been a long day and he really just wants to go home and sleep. 

“So let us go home!” 

Magnus turns his attention to Clary this time and gives her a mean glare that shuts her up. 

“Don’t be a brat, Clarissa.”

His tone lets Alec know that he’s tired as well and a closer look at the older man shows him that he’s probably not sleeping well. He’s worried even though he has no right to be. 

With a sigh, Magnus tosses a clipboard off to the side and rubs his hands harshly over his face. Alec wants to pull them away. 

“Okay, that’s it for tonight.” 

The cast and crew all but run off the set as fast as they can. 

“Want to ride back together?” 

“Yeah, sure,” he nods to Clary who then walks off to the dressing rooms. 

They’d found out that they actually lived pretty close to each other and Clary would offer to drop him off or pick him up sometimes. It was nice and it made him happy to know that he had another friend in Los Angeles who wasn’t his siblings or Raphael. 

He made his way back to his own dressing room slowly and sluggishly, not at all like Clary had. He didn’t have much with him. He just needed to grab his bag and phone. 

Once he had everything, he walked out of the room and promptly ran into someone who was walking rather fast. His phone flew from his hand and he groaned internally thinking that he’d have to go and get a new one. It seemed as if he was always breaking his phone. Damn iPhones. 

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!”

“It’s fine, it’s fine.” He picked up his phone from where it landed and actually let out a breath of relief to see that there wasn’t any visible damage. 

“Please tell me it’s not broken.” 

He turns his attention to whoever it was he ran into and is both completely surprised and expectant. 

Magnus is looking down to where Alec’s large hands are holding his phone tightly, obviously trying to spot any damage. If Magnus didn’t look so upset and worn out, Alec might have joked around with him a little bit, but he couldn’t bring himself to do that when he was in this state. 

He offered the phone out for Magnus to inspect. “It’s fine. See.” 

The older man took the phone from his hands and inspected it for himself. “Ah ha!” He shrieked. “Look! I messed it up!” 

Alec gave him a funny look but sure enough, when he looked down there was a small scratch on the back of the phone. 

“That’s not from you,” he comforted. “Jace did that last week. He got mad at me because I didn’t make him dinosaur chicken nuggets for dinner.”

Magnus looks up with a lost expression on his face. “Jace?” He questions. “Is um, is that your son or something?” 

“What?” He gasps out, taken off guard. “No! Oh hell no. Jace is my brother.” 

This eases up Magnus’ expression and he laughs. “Oh. Younger brother?” 

“He’s twenty-three.”

Magnus’ eyes widen and then he break out into laughter. Alec wonders what’s so funny for a minute until he realizes that Magnus must be laughing at the fact that his fully grown, adult brother threw a fit because Alec wouldn’t make him Dino nuggets. It’s actually very funny when he stops to think about it. 

“It’s not funny,” he says although he’s smiling. “He’s a brat.” 

“Oh, I know all about brats,” Magnus says with a smirk. 

“Who’s a brat? Are you seriously still complaining?” 

The two men turn to see Clary standing at the door of her dressing room and she looks less than impressed. 

“Actually, we weren’t talking about you, your highness,” Magnus says with an eye roll. “We were talking about Alexander’s brother.”

“You have a brother?” 

Clary looks a bit put off and that’s when Alec remembers that he never really mentioned his siblings to her. It’s not that he forgot or anything, but Alec doesn’t really like to talk about his family to people that he doesn’t know or isn’t comfortable around. Clary is neither of those things, but he just wasn’t used to opening up to others about his life.

“Is he younger?” 

“Yes—“ before he can say anything else, Clary squeals. 

“Oh my gosh! How young is he? I love little kids! I used to volunteer at this after school program and worked with the kids and they were all so cute. Does he like—“

“He’s twenty-three.” 

Her face falls, jaw still wide open. Magnus snorts and even though it should be unattractive, it’s the cutest thing Alec has ever heard before. 

“Why didn’t you say so?” She glares. 

“You didn’t let me say anything!”

She just huffs and rolls her eyes. “Are you ready? I’m tired.”

“I know,” Magnus and Alec say at the exact same time. They look at each other and laugh. 

“Alright, well while you two are joking around, I’m going to go to the car. Hurry up, Alec!” She walks off down the hallway with a large blanket wrapped around her. It looks like a comforter and swallows her up and it’s a funny sight as she tries repeatedly to not trip over it. 

“Well, I’m sure you can’t wait to go home.” Magnus says and he readjusts the objects in his arms. “I’m sorry things went a little late tonight.”

“It’s not a problem,” Alec shakes his head. “It’s in the job description. It’s not even that late anyways.” 

Magnus nods unconsciously. He lets out a yawn and when he does, his eyes somehow look more sunken in and Alec’s worry from earlier comes back.

“Are you okay?” He asks before he can stop himself. Magnus looks at him, a bit taken aback, but smiles. It doesn’t look energetic like it normally does. Instead it looks fake and even a bit sad. Alec decides that Magnus should never have to smile like that and he immediately dislikes whoever or whatever did this to him.

“I’m fine, Alexander.” Everything about his tone and appearance screams that he’s lying. “Thank you for asking.”

“Are you su—?”

“I’m fine.” The words are said harshly and Alec’s stunned by them. He recoils a bit and his cheeks grow red. He’s embarrassed that Magnus just spoke to him that way. He’s embarrassed by the fact that he just overstepped obvious boundaries. Even if something was wrong, why would Magnus even tell him? They weren’t anything. They weren’t even really friends when he thinks about it. Magnus is basically his boss here and Alec is just an actor in his movie. That’s it. 

Alec withdrawals from where he was standing so close to Magnus — how did he get so close to him — and straightens himself out.

“Okay, well I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

He doesn’t move right away and he watches as Magnus chews at his bottom lip while looking down. He doesn’t say anything to Alec though and well, he can definitely take a hint. 

He turns around to walk to the car and Magnus finally speaks up.

“Wait, Alexander.” 

Alec turns around, eyes wide and even a bit hopeful. When Magnus just continues to stare at him without saying anything, his hope goes away and he just smiles softly. 

“Goodnight, Magnus.”

Clary’s on her phone, typing away when he gets into the car. Without looking up from what she’s doing, she tells her driver where they’re going. Alec settles himself and pulls out his own phone to see if he has any missed notifications. 

He doesn’t, not anything important at least. There’s a few from Jace that demand he give him Clary’s number. Alec deletes the messages. Raphael texts him to remind him about his interview on Saturday. There are a few emails he needs to respond to, but nothing that can’t wait. 

“So what took you so long?” Clary asks, breaking the silence. 

“You were only in this car for maybe three minutes at the most,” he says with an eye roll as he locks his phone and looks at her. 

“Yes, but it shouldn’t have been that long. So what’s up?” Her face shows determination and he knows that there’s no way he’s going to be able to lie to her.

“I was just concerned.”

“About?” 

He’s unsure of what to say, before deciding that the truth is the best way to go. “Magnus.”

“Magnus?” She questions, bewildered. 

“Yup.”

“What about Magnus?”

“I don’t know. He just seemed a bit tired today. Didn’t you notice?”

“Of course I noticed,” she said. “But I mean, what did you expect? His divorce just went through today.” 

“Wait what?”

“His divorce?” She says, but it sounds like a question. “You do know he was married, right?”

Of course Alec knew that Magnus was married. Everyone had known that. It had been pretty big news when Magnus Bane and Camille Belcourt had finally decided to tie the knot five years ago. Camille had been known by many as a wild child and from the pictures printed of her on the tabloids, she lived up to the nickname. She had stated many times in interviews that she never wanted to be married or tied down to one person, so needless to say everyone was shocked when Magnus Bane changed all of her views. They had seemed like the perfect couple, but a year ago it got out that they had officially spilt up and that was that.

“Of course I did,” he says. “I just thought that they split up last year.”

“They did. They haven’t lived together for a while, but the divorce wasn’t finalized until this morning.” 

“Oh.” He’s a bit lost for words. He isn’t sure why it would hurt Magnus so much if they hadn’t even been together for over a year. Surely all that time apart must have allowed some of the hurt to vanish? 

“It’s still sad,” she says as if she can read his thoughts. “He really loved her. He thought he was going to grow old loving her.”

“Did she not love him?”

Clary lets out an ugly, dark laugh. “Camille doesn’t care about anyone except for herself. She’s a coldhearted bitch who deserves what’s coming to her.” 

The words are so cruel and unlike Clary that Alec momentarily wonders just what exactly Camille did to Magnus, but he knows that he has no right to ask. 

“He’s hurt over it,” she says, softer this time as she picks at her nails. “He tries to act like it doesn’t bother him, but I can see right through it. I mean, that has to hurt. Can you imagine meeting someone and loving them with everything in you and then finding out that you’re nothing to them? Just something to pass the time?” 

“No.” And he doesn’t. He can’t even imagine having to go through something like that and he hurts for Magnus.

“I just worry for him, you know?” 

Alec nods because he does know. He worries for Magnus now, a man he barely knows, so he can only imagine how Clary must feel. 

“He deserves to love and to be loved back.” Her voice is rising and it even sounds a bit shaky now. “He had such a big heart and he still does, but because of Camille he’ll probably never open to up to someone again.” 

The words are so sad and his heart breaks for the older man. He’s always portrayed as someone who’s always happy and well put together. He wonders what Magnus Bane is really like. He can’t help but think that he’d love to be able to see the person that Magnus hides away from the world. 

He knows all about what it’s like to want to hide yourself from the world; to want to hide from yourself even. He can’t help but think though, that any and every part of Magnus was beautiful. He didn’t know much of the other man, but he knew that. 

 

The week passes quickly for which Alec is grateful for. He doesn’t talk to Magnus alone for the rest of the week and while he misses their playful talks, he knows it’s for the best. True to Clary’s words, Magnus did seem to be really torn up over his failed marriage. Although he still puts on a smile for everyone else, Alec can see right through it. Unlike the other day though, he doesn’t confront the director. 

He’s packing up in his dressing room Friday night when Clary lets herself in and proceeds to throw her body onto his couch. 

“You ready for our interview tomorrow?” She asks as she kicks her legs into the air and paddles them. 

“Sure.”

“You sound ready.”

He rolls his eyes and throws his bag over his shoulder. “It’s the same questions over and over again.” 

“Yes,” she agrees. “But you’ve never done an interview with me before! It’ll be fun.” 

He snorts as he makes his way to the door. Clary jumps off the couch and walks out of the room as he holds the door open for her. 

“Well, my brother and sister are going. You can meet them.” 

She grins and claps her hands together. “Awesome! They sound so cool. I’m excited to meet them.” 

“Yes, well, not as excited as they are to meet you.” He leaves out the fact that Jace had been bouncing off the walls with his excitement for obvious reasons. Izzy is much more professional about it, but he knows that she’s secretly screaming in the inside. 

“Want to ride together in the morning?”

He nods and Clary just smiles before turning away from him to place her head against the window. Alec does the same and he finds himself just staring out to the moon. He must zone out because the next thing he knows, they’re at his apartment. 

He waves goodbye to Clary and she lets him know that she’ll come by around nine. 

When he enters his apartment, he’s hit with the usual dark and quiet greeting he receives. He clicks on the light and tosses his bag to the floor. If he tries, he can faintly hear how his mom used to yell at him to pick up his backpack from the ground when he got home from school. It never failed, everyday he would throw it to the ground and everyday she would yell. Sometimes he did it just because it was instinct and other times he did it just so he could hear her voice as soon as he got home. 

He shakes his head, not wanting to go down that lane. He makes his way to his room and undresses so he can take a shower. The feeling of hot water cascading around him is heavenly and he stays in the water longer than necessary. 

When he finally gets out and dries himself off, he does his nightly routine and brushes his teeth and makes sure to wash his face. He’d never been much for that before, but Isabelle kept buying him this really awesome face wash and now he loves it.

After he picks out a pair of pajama pants and a plain black shirt to match, he goes back into the living room and lays down on the couch to watch some TV. He puts it on one of his favorite crime shows and closes his eyes. 

 

When he wakes up, it has to be a lot later because his crime show is over and in it’s place is paid programming. He looks around, a bit out of it. He could have sworn he heard something crashing or banging and that’s what had woken him up. A look around the room lets him know that he’s still the only one in here and there’s not a thing out of place. 

He’s about to lay back down when a banging comes from his door. 

“What the hell…” he whispers to himself as he checks his phone for the time. It’s nearly four in the morning and he wonders if perhaps he should call the cops or something. 

The knocking gets louder and more persistent and he fears that one of his neighbors is going to wake up and want to fight him or something, so he jumps off the couch and walks to the door. 

Whoever it is, is still knocking and he prays that there isn’t some serial killer on the loose and he’s about to let them in. 

“Jesus Christ, could you wait!” He hisses as he throws open the door. He immediately slams it shut upon seeing who’s standing there and turns around as if someone is going to be standing in his living room and shout “just kidding!”. 

When he sees no one there, he turns around slowly and looks out of the little peephole in the door and is no less surprised to see who’s standing there. With a deep breath he opens to door again. 

“You know,” the person says, drunkenly, “I’m sure some would say it’s rude to slam the door in Jesus Christ’s face after yelling at him to wait.” 

Alec just stands there, absolutely shellshocked. He attempts to pinch himself to see if maybe he’s dreaming, but nothing happens which allows him to believe that this is really happening. 

“You’re being very quiet, Alexander. Your eyes are also very big. You look like a cartoon character.” The person giggles and even though it’s the cutest sound he’s ever heard, Alec doesn’t smile back.

“Magnus?” He whispers out. 

The older man looks up at him, eyes glassy and smile dopey. 

“Hi, Alexander.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as always, thank you for reading!
> 
> and feel free to come talk to me on my [tumblr](http://camelotskingz.tumblr.com)! I'm a very lonely and bored child. :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any and all mistakes are mine!   
> also slipped in a favorite quote of mine that I think was pretty cute :) thank you for all your kind words, I love reading them! hope you guys enjoy this one <3

Alec Lightwood has found himself in various types of awkward situations throughout his life. There was the time when he was eight and Izzy walked in on him kissing the neighbor’s son. There was the time when he was in high school and tripped on stage in front of the entire student body and faculty. There was even that time in college when he walked in on his roommate getting plowed into the bed by some huge football player which was especially awkward since said roommate had a girlfriend, but who was Alec to judge?

So yes, he’s no stranger to awkward moments and all they have to offer him, but he still was not expecting this. 

Magnus Bane was currently standing outside of his door with his hands locked behind his back and a goofy smile on his face as he swayed back and forth with his eyes closed. It was adorable, of course it was, but it was also really weird. 

There are a lot of questions on Alec’s mind like: Why did Magnus come here? Why was he so drunk? Why did he come to Alec’s apartment? How does he even know where Alec lives? _Why would he come to Alec’s apartment?_

“Magnus,” he says slowly as if the other man is actually a child.

“Alexander,” Magnus sings out with his eyes still closed, swaying back and forth. 

“Why are you here?” He hopes it doesn’t sound rude, because he’s not trying to be mean. He genuinely wants to know how the hell Magnus Bane ended up at his door. 

“Because.” 

It’s such a childish answer that Alec has to refrain from rolling his eyes especially since Magnus has finally decided to look at him. 

“Because why?”

Magnus’ eyes grow a bit wide but not in shock. He looks like a lost kitten, or something equivalent, and his face is so sad that it hurts Alec. 

“Because you cared.”

He isn’t quite sure what Magnus is referring to, but either way he can feel his heart growing heavier and heavier. 

“Yeah,” he whispers. “I do care.” Magnus doesn’t say anything so Alec speaks up again. “Are you okay? You want to come in?”

Magnus’ eyes look up at him, full of both hope and heartbreak, and he nods. Alec is about to ask which he is referring to when Magnus makes his way inside the apartment. Alec’s a bit shocked for a moment, but he quickly pulls himself together and closes the door before locking it. 

When he turns back around, Magnus is sitting down in the middle of the living room floor right on his brand new rug. Magnus crosses his legs and squirms around on it for a little bit before he throws his hands up and laughs. 

“This is soft!”

“Yes, it is.” Alec isn’t sure where to go from here. Was Magnus even aware of where he was right now? Should he call a cab for him? He could, but he doesn’t know Magnus’ address and he isn’t even sure if Magnus knows his own address right now, which brings him to his next question. 

“How did you know where I lived?”

Magnus doesn’t seem to pay any attention to his question as he continues to run his fingers through Alec’s rug. It’s brand new and super expensive and Alec had yelled at his siblings multiple times for even _thinking_ about stepping on it, but he doesn’t do that to Magnus. Here Magnus Bane is, running his fingers through it and even sitting on it with his shoes on and all Alec can think about is how innocent and happy he looks right now in this exact moment. 

“Magnus,” he says a bit sharply. The older man looks up at him with a dazed smile. “How did you know where I lived?”

Magnus shrugs. “It’s something I know.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m your director? I’m made aware of these things.”

Okay, well he supposes that does make a little sense. “Well, why did you come here?”

Magnus looks up to where Alec is still standing and gives him a smile. “I already told you that, silly.” 

Alec can’t help but find himself fighting back a grin at this version of the director that he’s never seen before. He wonders just how many people have seen this side of him.

“Why are you still standing? Come sit with me.” Magnus holds out his hand for Alec to grab and he does so without hesitation. He secretly hates himself for sitting on his perfect rug, but once he’s planted firmly on it, he understands why it cost him so much money. _It’s heavenly._

He and Magnus sit there for a while in silence. They’re facing each other, knees slightly touching as they sit cross legged with their hands on them and they’re just watching each other. He’s sure this has to look really weird, but he doesn’t care. He should also probably be creeped out by the way Magnus is looking at him —as if he has the answers to everything— but he isn’t. Staring into Magnus’ eyes right now, he can’t help but feel anything except for mesmerized. 

“I’m sorry,” Magnus whispers out. 

“For what?” He asks, tranced. 

“I shouldn’t have come here. I know that and I’m sorry.”

His voice sounds so sad that Alec can’t tell him that he’s probably right. “It’s okay,” he says instead. “I just don’t know why you picked my place out of everyone else’s.”

“Everyone?” Magnus questions. “Like who?”

“I don’t know,” and he doesn’t. He doesn’t know who Magnus hangs out with or if he even hangs out with anyone, but he’s sure that he does. “Don’t you have friends?”

Magnus nods slowly as he looks down. 

“So why didn’t you go to any of their houses? Why come to mine? It’s not like we’re friends.” The words sting as they come out of him and he can tell from the way Magnus pales, that he doesn’t like them either. Alec tilts his head, a look of wonder taking over his face. “Or are we?” 

Magnus doesn’t say anything. 

“Are we friends, Magnus?”

It’s a simple question and the answer should be simple but of course, it’s anything but. Are they friends? If he had been asked that question, he’s not sure how he’d answer it. He had thought that maybe they were somewhat friends before, but after the way Magnus blew him off the other day, now he’s not so sure. So he decides to leave the ball in his court. 

“Are we?” Magnus asks back. 

Alec shakes his head. “No, that’s not how this works. Are we friends?”

“I don’t—“

“It’s a simple question, Magnus.” He says firmly as he locks their eyes together. “Are we friends? Or not?” 

Magnus looks at him, doe eyed, and pauses for a bit before making up his mind. “Yes. I think… I think I’d like that.”

The answer satisfies Alec more than it should and he smiles. “I’d like that too.” Things get a bit quiet after that as they just sit there smiling. 

“So if we’re friends, does that mean you’ll tell me why you decided to get drunk and come over to my place?”

“Yeah.” Magnus pauses after that and takes a deep breath. Alec waits. He’s sure it must not be easy to open up about things that are bringing you down and he doesn’t want to seem like he’s pushing Magnus to do anything.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” he reassures. “I was just curious.”

“No, no. I want to tell you. It’s just…” he trails off and sighs. “I just didn’t expect to still feel like this, you know?”

Ah, there it is. So Clary was right when she said that Magnus was still upset over the whole ex-wife thing. 

“I don’t even really know why I’m sad,” the older man finally says. “It’s not like I miss her because I don’t. It’s not like I want her back either, because I definitely don’t.”

“Do you still love her?” He doesn’t know why he asks Magnus that, but he just really wants to know.

Magnus seems to be thinking it over before he answers. “I don’t know if you can be with someone for so long and _not_ love them. I’m not in love with her, that’s for sure,” he laughs harshly. “I think maybe I just hate that I wasn’t good enough.”

The words surprise Alec and he gasps out an exasperated, “What?”

“I mean, there has to be a reason she cheated on me for two years of our marriage, right?” He says it so calmly as if it’s not a huge freaking deal, which it is. Alec wasn’t aware that she had cheated on Magnus and somehow that made him hate her even more. How could anyone have someone as perfect and ethereal as Magnus and decide that they wanted _more_? Alec wasn’t even sure if there was anything or anyone better than Magnus. 

“That’s not your fault.” Alec says firmly. 

“Isn’t it though?”

“No.” Magnus doesn’t look like he believes him as he looks away. Alec grabs his chin and turns Magnus’ gaze back in his direction. “You can’t possibly think that was your fault. Her decision to cheat on you was her own; you have nothing to do with it. She’s just a miserable girl who’s going to be miserable her whole life.”

He’s not sure where the words are coming from. He doesn’t even know Camille Belcourt personally, but if the things he’s heard of her are anything to go by then he knows he’s right. 

“I just…” Magnus closes his eyes tightly and when he opens them again, there are tears building up. “I really wanted to believe that she could love me the way I loved her, you know? My whole life I’ve dreamed of meeting the one and spending my entire life with them and just being happy. Now I have none of that.” 

“You’re like, what? Thirty-three?” 

Magnus nods. 

“You’re still so young. Do you know how many people there are in the world, Magnus? You could have any of them. I know you thought Camille was it for you, but you probably haven’t even crossed paths with your soulmate yet.”

Magnus laughs softly. “Soulmates? You believe in all that?”

“Sure,” he says with a smile. “Why not? I definitely think there’s someone out there who’s the other part of us; who was made just for us. Who knows, maybe you’ll run into them tomorrow.” Magnus laughs, a genuine thing, and Alec suddenly feels a hundred times lighter. 

“‘Whatever souls are made of, his and mine are the same.’”

“Huh?”

“It’s a quote,” Magnus says with a warm smile as he looks at Alec. “From Wuthering Heights.”

“Oh.”

“It just reminded me of you.”

The words shock Alec, but before he can say anything back Magnus lets out a long burp. Alec sits there wide eyed as the older man quickly covers his mouth with both hands as his own eyes widen.

“Oh, my god,” he whispers softly from behind his hands. “That was so gross, I’m sorry. Excuse me.” His face is turning red and Alec can’t help it, he lets out a loud laugh. 

Magnus seems to get more embarrassed as Alec continues laughing, but after awhile he pulls his hands away from his face and starts to laugh as well. In a matter of seconds, they’re both literally rolling around on Alec’s rug, laughing uncontrollably. 

He doesn’t remember the last time he laughed this hard, especially over something so immature, but he likes it. It feels good to laugh like this. When they finally catch their breath again, they’re just laying down on Alec’s rug and staring up at the white ceiling. 

“Thank you,” Magnus finally says.

“For what?”

“Listening; for telling me what you did.” He pauses. “For making me laugh.” 

“You’re welcome, Magnus. I’m here for you.” And he means it. He might not know Magnus too well, but after this breakthrough tonight, he thinks that’s going to change. 

They’re quiet after that and the last thing he hears before he drifts off into sleep is the sound of Magnus breathing lightly next to him. 

 

There’s more banging at his door and he wants to yell out. Why do people always insist on banging on his door while he’s trying to sleep?

“Stop,” a groggy voice speaks from next to him. He’s taken off guard and jumps up before turning to the left of him and seeing Magnus laying there next to him. He’s confused for a moment before he remembers the previous night. Magnus had showed up at his door, sad and drunk, it wasn’t a dream. 

He’s not sure what to do with himself. Does he wake up Magnus? Does he ignore the door? Should he get a blanket for Magnus? He’s sitting there trying to think of his next move when the banging comes back. 

_Right,_ he thinks. _That’s what woke me up._ He gets up and opens the door, not even bothering to check who’s there. 

“Alec!”

He groans as he sees the culprit. Clary, of course. 

“Alec, are you seriously still sleeping?”

“No. I’m answering the door. I’m obviously awake.” 

Clary gives him a look that lets him know she’s not impressed. “Okay, well are you going to the interview in your pajamas with your hair looking like a bird’s nest or?” 

Crap! He’s forgotten all about the stupid interview. “Um, yeah. Yeah, I need to get ready.” He’s unsure what to do with Clary. He would let her inside, but Magnus is currently laying down in his living room and he doesn’t know if that’s something that he needs to hide or not. 

Unfortunately, Clary decides to make that decision for herself and pushes past Alec to get inside. He doesn’t say anything as she makes her way to the living room. Maybe if he just doesn’t mention the fact that Magnus is asleep on his rug, then no one will actually notice. 

“Uh, Alec?” Clary questions as she pauses right in front of his couch.

“Yes? Is something wrong?” _Don’t mention it. Don’t mention it. Don’t mention it._

“I’m not sure if you’re aware,” she says slowly, “but someone is asleep on your rug.”

“Oh?”

“And it’s Magnus.”

You don’t say.

Clary whirls around to look at him, complete bewilderment on her face. Alec just looks back at her, equally confused. Maybe if he acts like he wasn’t aware that Magnus had slept in his apartment then she’ll believe him.

“Alec, why is Magnus asleep on your floor?”

“Because his rug is comfortable.” 

Clary and Alec both jump as they look down at Magnus who is no longer asleep. 

“What?” He questions as if this is a completely normal thing.

Clary looks back and forth at both of them before tossing her hands into the air. “Am I the only one who isn’t aware of what’s going on here?”

“N—“

“Yes,” Magnus interrupts as he sits up and stretches. Alec thinks he looks a bit like a kitten when he does that. 

Clary glares at him like she wants an explanation, but Alec isn’t sure what she wants to hear or what he should even say so he just stays quiet. 

“Clarissa, maybe you should go pick up some coffee from the cafe next door.” Alec is about to tell Magnus that he has a coffee machine here that works, but the older man cuts him off with a sharp look. “Alec should be ready by the time you get back.”

“Are you seriously kicking me out right now?”

“Yes.”

“It’s not even your place!” She whines and Magnus just rolls his eyes as he goes to inspect his nails. Clary turns to Alec and he just shrugs. 

“Fine!” She says as she makes her way to the door. “But I want an explanation when I pick you up.”

As soon as she’s gone, Alec takes a deep breath to prepare himself for whatever Magnus will have to say. Is he even going to remember what happened last night? Not that anything actually happened, but still. He hopes he doesn’t think that Alec kidnapped him or something. That might be a bit problematic. 

“Alexander, dear, please sit down. You’re making me anxious.” 

Alec does so without a word. He waits patiently as Magnus wakes himself up. 

“So you remember last night?”

“I do. Thanks for listening to my problems. I’m sorry I just showed up here out of nowhere.”

“It’s okay,” Alec says softly because it is. Although he had been really confused and freaked out at first, he’s now secretly glad that Magnus decided to come to his place. He doesn’t ask how Magnus remembered his address, he figures he’ll go ahead and believe the whole “director knows all” thing. 

Things are quiet for a bit and it’s awkward, but Alec has never been in a situation like this before so he’s not exactly sure what he should say. Apparently Magnus isn’t having the same crisis as him. The other man jumps up and stretches his arms once more before smiling up at Alec. 

“You know, I’m sorry for how I kind of blew you off the other day. It was rude.” 

“Don’t worry about it. We’re friends now.” Alec says with a smile. It’s nice to call Magnus his friend.

“I think I’m going to enjoy being friends with you, Alexander.” The words are so simple and yet no other words have ever pleased him more. 

“Me too.” He pauses for a bit, biting his lip as he thinks over the next words he wants to say. “So if we’re friends does that mean we get to hang out off the set, too?”

Magnus laughs. “Yeah, I suppose it does.”

“Cool,” he smiles. “Do you want anything to eat? I’m a decent cook and I’m sure I could make you something real quick.” 

“Thank you, darling, but no. I should probably get going.” Alec frowns at the words. “You should also probably get ready for that interview.” 

Shit, he kept forgetting about the damn interview. Which brought him to his next question.

“Um, what do I tell Clary about why you spent the night?”

“The truth,” Magnus shrugs. “Clary knows everything about me. There’s no reason to lie. She’s trustworthy.”

Alec had already thought that of her, but Magnus saying it just makes him believe it even more. 

“Well, I should get going,” Magnus says and Alec just nods in confirmation. “I’ll see you Monday, Alexander.”

“See you.” He says softly as Magnus walks to the door. Magnus had just grabbed the doorknob when Alec calls out for him. Magnus turns and looks at him, waiting patiently for whatever it was Alec had to say. 

“Um. If you, you know, want to talk to anyone or anything before Monday… I’m here.” He blushes and looks away as the words fall from his lips.

“Alexander, look at me.” He does and it’s too see Magnus smiling at him like he’s the sweetest thing. “Thank you. Really.” 

Alec just nods and with a wave, Magnus is gone. He lets out a deep breath, letting the events of last night and this morning tumble around in his head. There are so many things that   
he’s feeling, but he knows that he doesn’t have any time to focus on them. 

He has an interview to get to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YAY! a little breakthrough in their relationship. things can only go up from here.... right? ;) 
> 
> as always, thank you for reading and feel free to [talk to me](http://camelotskingz.tumblr.com)!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any and all mistakes are mine!  
> ALSO, Clary briefly mentions a past stalker in the beginning during her conversation in the car with Alec. It's not too graphic or anything, but I thought I'd give a heads up just in case it would bother anyone. <3

He has about five seconds of quiet in the car before Clary begins to flood him with questions. They range from asking him when he and Magnus got that close that he would just show up to Alec’s place (Alec didn’t even know they were that close) to asking whether or not anything happened while he was there. He wasn’t sure what she meant by “anything” until she turned and gave him a pointed look that had his entire face turning the color of his shirt, which was a very bright red thanks to Izzy. Trying to convince Clary that no, nothing had happened between them was a lot harder than he thought it’d be. He wasn’t sure how someone could ever think of him and Magnus to be on the same scale that Alec would actually have a chance with him, but apparently Clary did. It was flattering and also a bit intimidating, but he chose not to think too much about it. 

She hounds him a little bit about what they were talking about and he listens to Magnus’ advice and tells her the truth. She backs off once she finds out that Magnus went to his place because of drunken sadness and if she’s wondering why he chose Alec over everyone else, she doesn’t voice it. 

The rest of the ride is filled with the sound of today’s new hits on the radio and Clary’s singing. Alec isn’t paying attention much because his mind is somewhere stuck on the interview he’s about to have and his previous night. While he’s still confused about a lot of things, he’s happy that Magnus referred to them as friends. It’s a step up and even though he isn’t sure if one should be that close to their director, he doesn’t care.

When they pull up to the building, hundreds of fans are crowded around outside. Clary’s bodyguard tells them to stay put until they can form a safe walkway for them to get inside. He’s used to this, the fans and the crowds, but from the way Clary is hunched in on herself, he can tell that she isn’t.

“You okay?”

She looks at him with a wary smile. “Yeah, it’s just a little overwhelming.” Alec wonders why that is. Clary has been in the limelight since she was a little girl and he thought that if anyone would be used to the crowds, it would be her. 

“I had a problem with this one fan,” she speaks up. “He somehow always knew where I would be making appearances and he made sure to be right in my line of view. It wasn’t ever a problem, until he tried to attack me one night outside of my old house.”

Alec just sits there, face morphed into one of shock because he had absolutely no clue about any of this. Had he somehow missed when the media was talking about this? He didn’t think he’d miss something like that. 

“We kept it out of the media’s hands,” Clary confirms. “I didn’t want people to look at me like I was some little girl who couldn’t take care of herself, you know? I didn’t want their pity.”

“I don’t think anyone would have pitied you, Clary.”

She just shrugs. “It wasn’t as bad as it sounds. He didn’t actually do whatever it was he planned on doing. All he accomplished was bruising my wrists a little when he grabbed onto them. Heston got there in time to kick his ass.” She smiles at the memory of her bodyguard saving her and Alec’s just glad that there was no real damage done. 

Before he can say anything, his door is opened up and Heston, along with a few other men, are standing there ready to lead the two actors out and into the building. 

He smiles for a few fans and even stops for a couple of pictures and autographs. Clary is doing the same, laughing along with a few girls who are talking to her about their days. One girl stops Alec to ask how his week is going and if he’s feeling all right and doing good. The questions fill him with warmth and he answers them genuinely. He always loves when his fans actually take the time to talk _with_ him instead of just stopping him for a quick picture. He cares about all of them, and it’s never been a problem to stop and give them his attention for a while.

Once they’re inside, they are met with a young intern who asks them if they’d like anything to eat or drink. They both decline, still sipping their coffees that Clary had gotten earlier and they are led to a dressing room together. 

“You know, I really like that shirt,” Clary speaks up. “It’s very different from what you usually wear.”

“My sister made it for me,” he smiles as he touches at the material, proud of her. “She’ll be glad to know you like it.” 

“Will I be meeting her today?”

He nods, but before he can say anything their makeup artist comes in to fix them up. As he’s patted down with various powders, he’s taken back to when Magnus had kept him company last week while he was having his hair styled by Megan. He must have zoned out longer than he thought because he’s suddenly pulled out of his thoughts by a very familiar squeal. 

“I knew you’d look good in red!”

He turns his attention to the voice and sees his sister grinning at him from the entrance to the dressing room. Jace is standing next to her, but his attention is focused solely on Clary, whose attention is on Isabelle. Alec laughs. 

“Clary, this is my sister, Isabelle.” Izzy walks up to the redhead and shakes her hand with a smile. 

“Call me Izzy.” 

“Hi!” Clary greets, all smiles and bright eyed. 

“And that idiot in the corner is my brother Jace.” Jace jumps out of his stupor to glare at Alec before he walks up to Clary and waves. His cheeks are pink and he looks so nervous that Alec wants to make fun of him, but he won’t do that in front of Clary. He’ll wait till they’re alone. 

Clary looks at Jace with a look that rivals the one Alec made when he first met Magnus and he wants to roll his eyes. How absolutely cliché of them. 

“You know,” Clary speaks up as she turns her attention away from Jace and back to Izzy, “I was just telling Alec that I really liked his shirt. You made it, right?”

“I did,” Izzy says with a wide grin, obviously happy for the recognition. “Thank you.” 

“Absolutely. I’m just giving credit where it’s due.” 

The two girls dive into a conversation about fashion and school and Alec smiles. He had known that they would hit it off. Jace walks closer to him and he seems to have eased up and isn’t as tense as he was when he had first walked in. 

“How’s it been, man?”

Alec shrugs a shoulder. “Same old.” He contemplates telling him about Magnus, but knowing Jace the other boy will probably morph it into something completely different, so he decides against it.

“Izzy wants to get burgers after this. You down?”

Alec nods, trying not to move too much; he doesn’t want to upset his stylist. 

“I know it’s not whatever fancy stuff you’re used to, but—“

“Shut up,” he says with an eye roll. “You know I’ve never cared about stuff like that.” And he hasn’t. When it comes to food, sure he loves going out and trying all the different and exotic cuisines, but he still loves a good, juicy burger more than anything. 

“I know, I’m just kidding,” he shoves Alec’s shoulder which results in a glare from his stylist. 

The door opens and in walks the same intern from earlier, this time looking a bit rushed and out of breath. “Are we all done here?” With one last glance at him, the stylist nods and pulls away from Alec. “Great, okay guys, follow me.” 

Alec and Clary follow after the boy who leads them backstage. They’ve already met the host and have even both done a few interviews with her before. It’s Emma August’s Early Show and as far as interviewers go, Alec’s always loved working with her. Izzy and Jace sit together on a couch backstage in front of a few TVs that will be airing the interview and they wish Clary and Alec luck. The two stand back for a while until the intern shoos them on stage. 

It’s a live show and the audience cheers as they both make their way on stage. Alec waves and puts on his happiest face. Clary does the same as he then goes up to Emma who kisses him on the cheek in greeting. They all exchange hellos and with a final wave toward the crowd, the interview begins. 

“Welcome guys! So today, I’m here with the two stars of Magnus Bane’s new romance movie, _Oasis_ : Alec Lightwood and Clary Fray.” The audience cheers. “I just have to say, you two are absolutely perfect for the roles!” 

“Thank you,” they reply in unison. 

“What’s it like working on set with Magnus Bane? It’s both of ya’lls first time, correct?” 

The use of the words “first time” has Alec’s mind floating off into very dangerous territory and he feels his face heat up.

“Oh, it’s great!” Clary answers for the both of them. “I mean, I’ve known Magnus my whole life but it’s amazing to be able to see him work from this point of view and honestly, we couldn’t have asked for a better director.”

“Alec?” Emma asks for his input. 

“Yeah, Magnus is...” he doesn’t even know what to say. There are so many words in the English language and for some reason, he can’t think of a single one to describe the older man. “He’s quite magical.” 

As soon as the words leave his mouth, the audience all let out a collective “aw” and Emma squeals. Alec just turns red. 

“He’s a great director,” he rushes out, trying to cover up that ridiculous slipup. “I could have never imagined that I’d be working with him and so the fact that I am is—“

“Quite magical?” Emma finishes for him with a smirk. “Speaking of magical, you recently came out as gay, didn’t you?”

The words are so blunt and Alec normally would have flinched at them being said so easily, but now he just smiles. “Yes, yes I did.”

“And how was that for you?”

“It was great,” he answers honestly. “All my fans were really supportive and my friends and family were such a great support system to have. I mean, of course there are always those people who are nasty about things, but it really doesn’t phase me like it used to. I’m finally being myself and as long as I have my friends and family by me, then I’ll be okay.” 

The crowd cheers and Clary pulls him in for a side hug. He blushes, but he’s glad that coming out can get such a positive reaction. 

“Have you met anyone lately?” Emma asks with a sly look. And there it is. 

“I meet a lot of people,” he winks back jokingly. He knows what she’s asking, but it’s always fun to play with interviewers when they ask this question. 

“Oh, come on!” She groans as she leans out to shove his shoulder lightly. “You know what I mean! Met any guy who’s swept you off your feet?” 

He can’t help it. It’s like anytime anyone even mentions the idea of a boyfriend or love interest, his mind just floats to Magnus. Before it had been kind of a dream idea, but now that he was actually friends with the other man, it felt weird as if he was violating their friendship somehow. 

“I’m still single,” he says knowing that he is purposely avoiding the question, but whatever. It’s not a lie. In fact, it’s the cold hard truth. “There’s no one in my life at this moment.”

“You hear that? He’s still on the market!” One guy in the crowd cheers really loudly and Alec laughs before pointing out at him and winking. “I should really introduce you to my brother,” Emma adds. “He’s a doll.” 

“Give him my number.” 

Clary cackles and the crowd seems to love the interaction and the thought of Alec getting into a relationship with another man, which amuses him greatly. He’s just joking around, though. It’s all for show, his flirtatious attitude, and most people have even called him out on it when they met him in person and discovered he’s actually quiet and shy. 

“And Clary,” Emma starts, taking the attention away from him, “any new men in your life?” 

Clary gracefully diverts the question and is able to steer them back onto the topic of their movie. The rest of the interview goes by smoothly and Alec is just glad they got all the love interest questions done first. It’s always a given that you’ll get asked about your love life, but still. Sometimes he wishes people would just stop asking. 

By the time things wrap up, he’s starving and wishes that he had asked the intern for something to eat after all. Once they’re done, they wave goodbye to the crowd and hug Emma before walking off. 

He sees his brother and sister when he’s backstage again and is about to walk up to them when Clary intercepts and stands in front of him, a look of determination on her face. 

“Yes?” He asks, dragging the word out in confusion. 

“’He’s quite magical’?” She asks, lifting an eyebrow. 

Shit. He silently curses himself for his stupid slipup. Honestly what was he even thinking saying that about his director? People were probably going to assume something like they always do and he can already picture it. Magnus would hate him. He had barely gotten into the man’s good graces, but obviously now that was all shot to hell. 

“Yeah,” he says because that’s all he can even manage to say right now. 

“Pretty bold statement for someone who assures me that “nothing happened” last night.” She says ‘nothing happened’ in the same broody, yet whiny voice he used earlier and he just glares at her. She’s unbothered by it, of course. “I’m just saying… I wouldn’t go around calling your brother “quite magical” and I know him just about as well as you know Magnus.”

“Okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration.” He says with an eye roll. “And trust me, even if you did know Jace that well, you still wouldn’t refer to him as magical.” 

“You know what I mean!” 

He does, but still, he can’t help but to poke fun at Jace whenever the opportunity presents itself. “I don’t know what you want me to say here, Clary.” 

“I don’t want you to say anything. Obviously there’s ‘nothing going on’. However, if there were something going on between you and Magnus, it’d be pretty cool.” 

The words, although surprising, make him happier than anything else has in a while. He and Magnus aren’t anything, but it’s pretty neat to know that if they were, Clary would be all for it. 

“Even if there isn’t something going on,” she continues, “it’s still cool. Magnus needs someone like you in his life.”

“Someone like me?”

“Yeah. You’re good, nice, and sincere. Magnus doesn’t have too many people like that in his life.” 

The words are both sweet and troubling, but before he can spend anymore time thinking about them, Jace runs over and slings an arm around his shoulder. 

“Good job out there, bro! You ready to eat?” 

He nods as Izzy walks over, all poised and collected. “Would you like to come, Clary?” His sister asks. “It’s just this little burger joint.”

“I’d love to! I haven’t had a good burger in forever, that sounds so good right now.” She runs off to go tell her driver that she’ll be leaving with Jace and Izzy who have their own car. 

“I like her,” Jace says dreamily. 

“Please,” Izzy says with a sigh, “tell us something we don’t know.” Jace looks offended, but before he can say anything, Izzy turns her attention towards Alec. “I am however, shocked by your little love declaration.” 

“Huh?” 

“’He’s quite magical’,” Izzy swoons out and Alec wants to yell. 

“Oh my god, can we please let that go?”

“It was just so priceless! Only you would say something like that on live television!”

“I don’t get it,” Jace says. 

Izzy rolls her eyes. “Of course you don’t, because you are a clueless boy.”

“Hey!” 

“Being called ‘quite magical’ by Alec is the highest form of a compliment from him. I don’t even think I’ve ever heard him compliment someone in his entire life.”

“He compliments us all the time,” Jace says. 

“That doesn’t count! I’ve never heard him compliment someone as hot as Magnus Bane.” Alec frowns down at her. “And it was just… such a sweet and innocent comment, oh my gosh, Alec, it was so cute!” 

“Okay, Izzy, that’s enough.” 

She looks like she wants to say more, a lot more, on the topic but thankfully Clary joins them again and pulls her attention away. 

“Okay, I’m ready! Where’s this awesome burger joint at?” 

Izzy links arms with her and guides her towards the exit of the building, leaving Jace and Alec to walk together behind them. 

“What was all that about?” Jace asks looking entirely too confused. Sometimes he really _was_ clueless. 

“Nothing, don’t worry about it. Izzy’s just meddling like usual.”

This seems like an acceptable answer and Jace just nods his head in understanding and Alec is thankful that at least someone didn’t care about his stupid comment. 

 

“I love her!” Izzy laughs out after Clary had told her a story about an embarrassing time on set. 

They’re all crowded together on a booth, plates nearly wiped clean with how hungry they were and Alec has never really felt more content in his life. It feels so normal to have Clary around his siblings and it somehow feels like they’ve known her their entire lives, she fits into their group so well. 

“My costar refused to talk to me after that! He would only interact with me when we were filming and that’s it!” 

“You embarrassed the poor guy!” Jace yelled out, even though he was laughing about it. 

“How was I supposed to know he liked me?” She defended. 

“Clary Fray the heartbreaker,” Alec sighs jokingly. 

“I am not!” 

Jace taps on Clary’s shoulder from where they’re sitting together on the other side of the booth and she lowers her head to see what he’s trying to show her on his phone. 

The two seem to click in way that Jace hasn’t with a girl before. It’s nice and refreshing to see him actually laugh and be himself with a girl. Alec isn’t surprised at all that Clary would be the girl to bring out that side of him.

“They seem to really get along,” Izzy whispers to him. 

“Yeah.” 

“It’s good,” she confirms with a nod. “Jace could use a good friend.”

Alec doesn’t say anything back. Everyone just seems to be getting along so great and while it’s amazing, it’s also uneasy. Throughout his entire life, he’s never really fit in anywhere and it just seems so unreal that he’s actually here with a pretty solid group of people surrounding him. He can’t help but feel like it’ll all be taken away from him. 

“Stop thinking so hard,” Izzy nudges him as she pulls him away from his thoughts. “Everything’s okay.” 

He wants to agree with her, but he doesn’t because he’s too scared that he might jinx it all. 

 

By the time he gets home, he’s exhausted even though it’s barely the afternoon. Clary and Izzy both decided to go to their own homes, but Jace stayed over with him. They’re currently lounged out in the living room, watching some old rerun of a TV show, but neither is really paying attention. 

“Clary’s cool,” Jace says. He’s probably aiming for nonchalant, but Alec sees right through him. Jace has never once referred to a girl as “cool”; his compliments are usually a lot more vulgar. 

“Yup.”

“Like really cool, man. You never really know, you know, because you never know how a celeb actually is so it’s cool that she’s cool.” 

Alec looks over to his brother with a blank face. “What?” 

“I don’t know,” Jace sighs. “She’s just… obviously I knew she was beautiful, but there’s something more to her. Like hell yeah, she’s gorgeous, but her personality is so amazing. I wasn’t bored once today when we were talking.” 

Jace rambles on and on and Alec can’t help but to smile. He had known that Clary would get along great with his siblings, but he wasn’t expecting Jace to fall head over heels for her in one day. It was cute.

“Did you give her your number?” He cuts Jace off midsentence. 

“Of course! Do you think she’ll text or call?”

“Maybe,” he shrugs. “Clary’s a pretty straightforward person. If she didn’t want to talk to you again, she probably would have said so.”

“So it’s good that she actually asked for my number?” 

He’s shocked for a moment. He wasn’t aware that it was Clary who had asked to exchange numbers first. “Definitely a good sign.”

Jace smiles and nods, obviously content with the answer, before becoming serious. “You know, I might not know much about feelings or relationships, but you know if you met someone you could tell me, right?”

The words throw Alec off, but he nods. “Yeah, yeah I know that.”

“It’s just that… well, you never really seem to meet anyone and that’s cool and all, but you deserve to be happy, bro.” Jace is looking at Alec with so much emotion that he can’t help but turn away from his brother’s caring gaze. 

“I haven’t met anyone,” he mumbles as he plays with a hole in his jeans. 

“You sure about that?” 

Alec snaps his head toward Jace. Does he know something? There really isn’t anything to know, but still. Jace never seems this interested in Alec’s love life or even his feelings in general.

“I’m sure, Jace.” 

“Alright, alright,” Jace puts his hands up in surrender. “I’m just saying… if you ever met someone, you know, ‘quite magical’ or anything, I’d love to hear about him.”

“Not you too!” Alec groans while Jace starts to cackle loudly. “Oh, you think it’s funny?”

“What makes him so magical, huh, Alec?” Jace gives him a suggestive look and Alec jumps up from the couch and grabs a pillow. 

“I’ll show you magical when I kick your ass!” 

Jace laughs and jumps off the couch to run away while Alec trails behind him, pillow in hand, and ready to attack him with it. They’re both laughing like idiots and it’s the lightest he’s felt in a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you all enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it! sorry for the lack of Magnus in this one, but he'll be back next chapter! :)


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I hate this chapter like with everything in me and it's super short, I'm soooo sorry. I've been staring at it for like ever, but it was honestly just a filler (for obvious reasons, you'll see) but UGHHHH, I'm just not feeling it and I'm tired of looking at it! I hope you guys don't hate it as much as I do, LOL.   
> (Is blaming my lateness on the fact that I'm actually doing adult stuff and moving cities okay? I hope so.) 
> 
> P.S. I hate this chapter so much that I didn't really read over it, so please excuse any mistakes. :(

Alec loves acting. He loves being able to become someone else even if it’s just for a short amount of time and he loves all the people he meets and the places he goes to. He loves the amazing opportunities that being an actor offers him and all in all, he just really loves it. However, that being said, there are parts of the job that he doesn’t really like at all. Today an example of that is the young brunette who was cast as a girl that Ian and Emily met along their road trip and the actress herself was a nightmare. 

Things had started off great when they had all arrived on set that morning. Alec was introduced to the actress, Nicole, and she really had seemed completely nice and normal—then they started shooting. 

At first she was upset because of the lighting, claiming that it made her skin looked washed out. Alec wanted to tell her that it was probably because she looked like she hadn’t seen the sun in over ten years. Then she started yelling because one of the interns had given her three ice cubes in her drink instead of the four she had asked for. The day got profoundly more exhausting and ridiculous as it went on and everyone was fed up with the girl. 

“I just don’t see why I can’t stand on that side of the shot,” she said with a sneer at Clary. 

“Because that’s not how it’s supposed to go. You can’t always get what you want. Get over it,” the redhead growled back, obviously having had enough of Nicole’s attitude. 

Nicole actually gasped at the words as if Clary was the first person to ever tell her no. She probably was. With a turn of her head, Nicole locked eyes with Alec and widened them in false innocence. 

“Alec, could you please talk to one of the directors? I’d really like to stand on that side.” 

If he hadn’t been dealing with her attitude all day, he might have actually bought into her wide-eyed look and he might have even talked to Magnus about it, but he knew better. 

“Nicole,” he sighed, “the lighting looks fine with where you’re standing. You’ve had a problem over the lighting all morning and we’ve already moved you five different times.” 

“Yes, but now the angles are all off!” She whined. “Couldn’t you talk to someone?” Before he could even take hold of what was going on, Nicole pressed herself up against his chest and gripped onto his bicep and dug her nails into his skin. He wasn’t sure if he was supposed to be turned on by any of this, but aside from the fact that she was very much _not_ a man, her nails were hurting him and he scowled. 

“What are you doing?” He hissed out. 

“Let go of him,” Clary snapped, pushing at Nicole who miraculously did not loosen her grip on Alec. 

Alec was just about to snap and yell at the girl, or push her off, when Magnus and Ragnor ran over to all of them. 

“What’s going on here?” Ragnor asked once he was near them. No one said anything; Nicole kept her gaze on Alec while he looked down at her in disgust. 

Apparently, no one was going to move anytime soon and this seemed to annoy Magnus who placed his hand on Nicole’s shoulder to get her attention. The girl morphed her facial features into one of confusion, but Magnus really wasn’t having any of it by the look on his face. 

“Do not touch Alexander ever again or else I’ll make sure you never get cast again in your life; not for any big time movie, not even for some B rated movie. I will blacklist your name in all the biggest circles.” 

“I-I’m—,” she stuttered out. 

“As a matter of fact,” Magnus said with little remorse, “you’re fired. Get off my set.” 

Nicole gasped as she finally let go of Alec and just stood there, mouth wide open in disbelief. 

“Close your mouth, you look like a fish.” 

Alec snorted at Clary’s words, but Nicole took her advice and shut her mouth before screaming and running off, probably to find her manager. Alec turned to Magnus, but the older man was already walking away. 

“Everybody, take five!” Ragnor yelled out before sighing and running his hands over his face.

Clary stormed off, probably to her dressing room and Alec looked around for a bit before taking off in the direction Magnus had walked out to. 

“Magnus!” He called out, seeing the director standing against a wall in a quiet hallway. Magnus took no note of Alec’s presence so he called out to him again, softer this time. Magnus turned his head sharply, eyes hard, as he looked to see who had called him. However, once he saw it was Alec, his glare softened and he straightened up from where he had previously been slouching. 

“Alexander.” 

He walked up to Magnus and once he was right in front of him, he just kind of stood there. He wasn’t really sure what to say or what was even appropriate to say in this case. 

“Bit dramatic, don’t you think?” 

He’s not sure what Magnus is referring to until he hears a very high-pitched shriek and is reminded of Nicole.

“Why’d you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Fire her.”

Magnus gave him a look of absolute incredulity. “She grabbed you, Alexander; pretty forcibly actually.” 

“Yes, I know that, but still. Why fire her?”

Magnus paused for a bit, as if he was thinking pretty hard about how to answer. “She shouldn’t have grabbed you like that and the way she was coming onto you – I don’t need someone like that on my set.”

“It was harmless. I don’t even like girls.”

“Somehow that makes it a bit worse, darling.” Magnus sighed and leaned up against the wall once more. “Either way, she was being a drama queen and rude to my entire cast and crew.” 

Alec just nodded although he still felt a bit bad about Nicole getting kicked off set. Sure, she was a nightmare but he knew this wouldn’t be good for her publicity. 

As the two grew quiet alone in the hallway, Alec realized that this was the first time he had actually been alone with Magnus since their whole newfound friendship had started. It left him feeling uncertain. He wasn’t really sure how to be Magnus’ friend. Sure, he had friends but somehow Magnus seemed so much more important and different to him than any other friend ever had. 

“You know,” Magnus started, “I saw your interview the other day.” 

And suddenly, just like that, Alec forgot what breathing was or how to do it. 

“It was nice.” 

Nice? _Nice?_ What part of it was nice? The part where Alec decided that he wanted to tell the world that Magnus Bane was magical or the part where he acted like an idiot afterwards?

“I, um, I uh—“

“Relax, Alexander,” Magnus laughed out, “no one’s judging you here. I’ve been called worse things.” 

He wants to ask just what Magnus has been called, but a part of him knows that he doesn’t want to hear the answer to that. Half of him is glad that Magnus is writing this off as no big deal, but the other half of him wishes that maybe he’d look a little deeper into Alec’s words. 

“Besides,” he says, breaking Alec out of his thoughts, “I’m glad you think of me that way.”

“You are?” 

Magnus hums out and Alec smiles at this. “I’m assuming that’s a compliment coming from you?” 

“It’s not an insult,” Alec jokes. 

Magnus smiles at him and while Alec returns it, he can’t help but to get lost in the moment. He feels like every time he’s with Magnus, he somehow loses track of everything. It’s a weird feeling, one that he isn’t sure he’s ever experienced before and yet he doesn’t hate it. 

He’s always liked to be in control of his own feelings. It’s part of the reason why he’s never actually tried to go out and find anyone. He doesn’t like the vulnerability that being attached to someone can cause. He doesn’t know what his exact feelings are, but he knows that he likes being Magnus’ friend, and he knows that he doesn’t mind being vulnerable around him and right now that’s good enough. 

“I wanted to ask you something actually.” 

“Oh?” Alec questions. 

“Yeah, it’s silly, but I have this annual gala that I attend every year and well, this year I’d be going stag which is fine and all, but then I realized that maybe you’d like to come with me?” 

Alec just stands there completely stunned. Is this Magnus asking him out on a date or something? Do friends go on dates? What is this? Magnus must take his silence for something else and Alec watches as the older man becomes flustered. 

“Obviously you don’t have to,” he laughs out but it sounds forced. “I just thought it’d be good for you to go out and meet other people you know, producers and directors. You’re a big name now, Alexander, you should embrace it.”

He still stands there, stunned as he tries to take everything in. Obviously this isn’t a date, what was he thinking? Magnus just wanted him to get out more, a normal thing most friends want of their friends. He’s sure that friends attend galas all the time together. It’s cool; everything is cool except that he kind of feels like he’s floating just by the idea that he’ll be attending something fancy with Magnus Bane next to him. The thought alone is enough to get him swooning. 

“I’ll go.” He decides. “You’re right. It’d be nice to actually go out and interact with people.”

Magnus’ smile widens and he looks at Alec like he just answered all his prayers. Well, what are friends for? 

“Great! I’m so glad. It’s not until the twentieth, so you have about two weeks to find something to wear.” 

Alec already knows, without a doubt, that if he’s going to be wearing anything then it’ll be an Izzy Lightwood original. 

“We should probably get back to the others,” he says with a wave of his hand. Magnus doesn’t seem to be in any hurry though and just nods his head absentmindedly. 

“I suppose we should.” 

Alec pauses and waits for Magnus to move but when the other man doesn’t, he takes it upon himself to go ahead and walk quickly out of the hallway and back to the set. 

Clary looks calmer than she had before and with no sign of Nicole anywhere, they begin again. 

 

Telling his siblings that he attending a gala was easy. Explaining to them that he was attending with Magnus with a whole other story. 

“You don’t just ask people to a gala as _friends_ ,” Izzy had explained with an eye roll. 

“Think you could set me up with anyone going?” had been Jace’s remark, followed by “Is Clary going?” and then “Dude, it’s totally a date. You can’t be that daft, can you?”

Apparently, Alec can be that daft, because he had to sit down with both of them and explain all the reasons why it was not a date. He had a few good points such as: “He said it was so I could meet other people” and “He just got divorced” and the best one, “He’s Magnus Bane. I don’t stand a chance.” 

“I just don’t understand why he’d take you,” Jace said which earned him a glare from Alec and an elbow to the side courtesy of Izzy. “Not like that,” he rolled his eyes, “I just find it weird that he’d ask you even though you guys aren’t dating or anything. Seems to me like he either wants to be dating you or wants to get to know you better which equals wanting to date.”

“See!” Izzy exclaimed.

“In what world does wanting to know someone better equal wanting to date them?” Alec questioned. “Maybe he does want to know me better, okay, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to be taking me out to dinner anytime soon.”

“Technically it is a dinner.”

Alec throws his brother a glare before sighing. “Look, guys, I know that you’re both excited for whatever reasons, but seriously, it’s not like that. Magnus came to me the other night whenever he was upset about his divorce. He probably just trusts me or something.” 

“He did?”

“Why didn’t you say that?” 

“Because I knew you would take it the wrong way! I mean, look at how you’re reacting right now. Let’s just be realistic, okay? Magnus was married to Camille Belcourt, what would he possible want with me?”

“Alec, you really can’t be comparing yourself to her.”

“I’m not, Izzy! I’m not comparing myself to her because there’s nothing to compare. I’m just telling you that Magnus has absolutely no interest in me whatsoever. Why would he? I’m a twenty-four year old guy who’s never had a serious relationship before. He’s been married. I’m sure he’s not looking to be with some inexperienced kid.” 

Izzy just bites her lip and looks away while Jace fixes him with an odd look. Alec doesn’t care what either of them has to say anymore. He was lucky enough to even be friends with Magnus. He wasn’t going to go around allowing himself the delusion that Magnus could ever want him for anything else. 

“Anyways,” he starts, hoping to change the subject, “I was wondering if you’d like to design something for me to wear.”

Izzy’s attitude changes at once and her eyes light up as she looks to him with a smile. “Really? You’re serious?”

“Yes,” he laughs. “It’s in two weeks. Is that enough time?”

“More than! Do you want something dark or something that’ll pop against your skin tone? Do you know what Magnus is going to wear? You two could match! It’d be so great, oh my god. I need to go look at examples!” She stands from the couch and runs over to Alec and squeezes him tightly before running off to her room. 

“You know she’s going to be an absolute wreck to live with for the next two weeks, right?” 

“Guess it’s a good thing she lives with you and not me.” 

Jace snorts and rolls his eyes, lifting his glass of water to drink. 

“How’s the movie going?” He asks once he sets the glass back down. 

Alec tells him about the drama they’d had the other day, which has Jace laughing once he learns about Clary’s fiery side. Alec finds Jace’s interest in Clary amusing especially because they’ve only ever had the one interaction. He thinks it’s pretty cute that Jace still seems to be intrigued by her even though they don’t know each other too well. 

“Have you guys talked since you gave her your number?” 

Jace seems to think for a minute, choosing his words carefully before answering. “A little bit, yeah. She seems really busy.” 

Alec just nods, taking note of Jace’s disappointed tone. “Well, you can’t blame her. She’s in the middle of filming a movie right now and she just landed that new modeling contract. She’s going to be busy for a while.” He isn’t sure just what exactly his brother and the actress are to each other, but either way he doesn’t want Jace to feel bad over something that has nothing to do with him. 

“No, I know. It’s just weird, you know?” 

“How so?”

“I’ve never actually been interested in someone who does what you do,” he says with a shrug. “Obviously I know that she’s a busy person and important. It’s just different when it’s a girl you’re interested in.” 

Alec nods in understanding. In a way he doesn’t know what it’s like to date someone who does what he does either considering the fact that he’s never really dated anyone. 

“You do know how weird it is, don’t you?”

“How what is?”

“Going to the gala with Magnus.” Alec must give him a look, because Jace immediately starts to shake his head. “No, man, like seriously. Does that seem like something everyone just does? Because I don’t remember the last time I ever got asked to attend something like that with my boss.” 

“That’s because you work at a boxing gym. Why would he?” He cracks a smile but drops it after he sees the blank face on Jace’s face. 

“You know what I mean! I’m just saying I don’t think Magnus would be the type to just ask anyone random person to attend one with him.”

“You don’t even know him,” Alec protests, but he can’t help the way his heart seems to plummet at the idea of Magnus taking someone else with him. 

“You’re right. I don’t, but you do. So tell me, does it seem like something he would do?”

Alec has to think about it for a moment but the answer is clear as day. No. Magnus wouldn’t just ask anyone random person to attend something so serious and public with him. Despite whatever reason Magnus invited him, it’s still obvious that Magnus must trust and like him enough to actually consider him at all. It’s a known fact that Magnus hasn’t been spotted with anyone at all since his divorce so the fact that he’s allowing Alec to be the first one kind of says a lot. Then again it could also be saying nothing at all. 

“Anyways,” Jace says as he grabs his shoes. “I need to head to the store. Want to come with?” 

Alec nods. If it takes his mind (and Jace’s) off the insane idea that Magnus could possible ever like him then he’ll gladly go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THERE IT IS! I can say goodbye to this messy chapter forever. And what, what, a date? Or well, I guess not a date because poor Alec is the most oblivious thing, but we still love him. Next chapter won't take so long, I promise! It might not been a weekly update, though because I actually am moving cities so I'm over here trying to get myself together, which is hard when you're me. But next update will be a lot better, I swear. xD
> 
> as always, feel free to [talk to me](http://camelotskingz.tumblr.com). I'm a lonely soul. <3


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's the gala chapter guys! Or well, the first part at least. ;) I decided to cut the chapter into two! Because apparently I like suspense and cliffhangers.   
> Be prepared for some pretty aggressive handholding in this one!   
> Also, do people dance at galas? I don't know, I've never been to one so let's just assume they do, okay? Great!   
> Enjooooooy. <3

“If you don’t stand still, I’m going to throw this camera at you.” 

He throws his hands into the air in exasperation. “I’ve been still for the past five minutes! You had to have at least gotten one good shot by now!”

“That’s not the point,” Izzy scolds as she circles around him. “I don’t need just one good picture. I need several good pictures. You wouldn’t understand.”

She’s right, he doesn’t. As much as he had been all for getting her name out there and allowing her to design his clothing, he didn’t know that he’d have to deal with this too. Apparently she has to build up a portfolio or something for her class, which makes him the star of nearly all her pictures. Jace had offered to take the spotlight away from him, but they weren’t the same size at all, so obviously that was a no go. 

“Okay, okay, I’m done.” Izzy stands up and begins to look through her huge camera that Alec had gotten her as a gift for her birthday. 

“Thank god,” he sighs dramatically as he straightens out his suit and stretches. Izzy just rolls her eyes at him and walks away. 

“When are you supposed to leave?” 

He glances over at the clock and sees that it’s nearly eight. Magnus had told him that he would have a limo outside for him around nine and the thought alone was enough to get his palms feeling sweaty. The past two weeks had passed by so quickly that it felt like a dream. Work had gone by pretty smoothly and they had even gotten a new actress to replace Nicole, which was good news all on its own. 

Magnus had even started to talk to him more and they had gotten closer over the short amount of time. He’s happy about it. Magnus was honestly one of the coolest, most down to earth people he had ever met and he had even discovered that they had a lot in common and got along real well. 

“In the next hour.”

“Oh, my god! That’s not nearly enough time!” 

He doesn’t get a chance to ask what she’s talking about before she’s placing her camera onto his kitchen counter and grabbing his hand to lead him into his bathroom. 

“Iz, what are you doing?”

“You didn’t think you were going to go to a gala as Magnus Bane’s plus one with your hair looking like that, did you?” He looks at himself in the mirror and doesn’t see what the problem is. His hair looks the way it always does. 

“What’s wrong with it?”

She gives him a disgusted and unimpressed look. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t just say that. Now sit down so I can get to work, please.” 

He does as she says, figuring it’ll make everything a lot easier if he doesn’t argue with her and he tries not to cry out as she begins to tug and yank his hair in all different directions. Izzy’s hair always looks amazing so he’s trying to put his faith in her and just believe that she’ll do him good.

After a few minutes of torturous hair pulling, she pulls away with a smile and claps her hands together. “I’m done! My masterpiece is complete!”

He rolls his eyes at her dramatics, but stands up to look in the mirror anyways. His hair isn’t up in the usual spikey way he goes for. Instead, Izzy decided to lay it down across his forehead in a slightly messy way. It looks like someone took their time to make it messy and it‘s better than anything he could have done. It makes him look years younger and well, he loves it. 

“See,” Izzy says with a smile, “it makes you look younger this way and not like you’re trying too hard to impress everyone. You look genuine. “

He doesn’t understand how a hairstyle can do all that, but apparently it can. He turns to his sister and smiles at her before giving her a hug and thanking her. They sit around for a while, not doing much at all since he feels like he’s about to go crazy with anticipation. Ten minutes before it turns nine, there’s a knock at his door and his heart speeds up. 

Izzy’s talking rapidly about something as she jumps up from the couch and runs to answer the door. Alec can’t really pay attention to what she’s saying or what’s even going on at all. He looks down at his outfit and tries to get rid of invisible creases and lint that isn’t there. It’s not like he hasn’t been to things like this before, because he has, but he hasn’t been to any of them with someone like Magnus Bane. Does he even look good enough to be seen with him? How should he act? He doesn’t want to embarrass the other man. 

He doesn’t have much time to think about it before Izzy and some new guy are standing in front of him. 

“Mr. Lightwood,” the man greets with a serious nod. “I’m Jason, Magnus’ bodyguard. I’m to lead you through the back exit of the building where the limo is.” 

“Is there paparazzi?” Isabelle questions, looking a bit queasy. She dislikes them almost as much as Alec does. When he first became a big name, he didn’t think his family would ever have to deal with the press and paps like he did, but for some reason, they were constantly getting hounded. 

“No ma’am. It’s just a precautionary.” 

Izzy nods but she still looks tense. 

“You can just stay here tonight if you want,” Alec offers. “Invite one of your friends over or something. I have takeout menus on the counter and you can use my card.” He takes his card out of his wallet and Izzy looks like she might protest, but a sharp look from him makes her nod instead. “If anything happens or you don’t feel safe, call Brody,” he says, referring to his own bodyguard. “You have his number.” 

Izzy smiles and nods, looking a bit calmer now. “Okay, thank you, Alec.” She leans forward and gives him a hug. He places a kiss onto the top of her head. “Have fun tonight. I’ll see you when you get back.” He kisses her cheek once more before waving his goodbye and following Jason out of the room. 

The walk down to the limo seems to take longer than necessary and the entire time all he can think about is what it’ll be like to see Magnus. Sure, he sees him all the time but this is different. A part of him, the childish and dreaming part, hopes that maybe tonight will open up new doors for them. Magnus thinks Alec is going just so he can meet new people, but the truth is he’s going to so he can really _meet_ Magnus. There’s a difference between work Magnus and just Magnus and Alec wants to experience it all. 

When they finally get outside and the cold wind touches his cheeks, it allows him to calm his nerves a little bit. It’s not a big deal, its just Magnus. He can do this. Jason opens up the door and as Alec slides his way in, he realizes that he can’t do this. 

Magnus is sitting there looking as ethereal as ever and Alec feels like the plainest thing in the entire world. 

His hair is done up in it’s usual quiff, with a few strands of dyed blue hair falling down onto his forehead. He has his makeup done to perfection and everything matches his black and blue suit that fits him perfectly. 

“Hello, Alexander. You look dashing.”

No one’s ever called him dashing before, it sounds odd, but coming from Magnus, it’s the best kind of compliment. He smiles and fidgets with his hands nervously. 

“So do you.” 

“I like your hair,” the older man says as he leans forward and grabs something out of the mini fridge. Alec isn’t really paying attention. He can’t seem to notice anything except for Magnus. “Champagne?” 

Alec grabs the glass out of Magnus’ hand and thanks him softly. He takes a sip of the drink, hoping it’ll ease up his nerves a little bit. 

“Are you nervous?” Alec looks at Magnus, wondering what could have made him think that, but the older man just points at his hand, which sure enough is shaking uncontrollably. “You don’t need to be. It’s just me.” 

Alec wants to scream. _Just you?_ Magnus says it as if he’s nobody, as if he’s just another person. As if he’s not the most beautiful thing Alec has ever seen. As if he doesn’t make Alec’s heart race every time they so much as step foot in the same room. As if he’s not here right now making Alec question all his morals. 

“I just haven’t been to one of these in a while,” is what he says instead. 

Magnus nods his head like he gets it, and he probably does. 

“It’s okay. I’ll be there with you the entire time. We can laugh at everyone and their messy drama.” He smirks and Alec laughs suddenly at his words. 

“What?” 

“Yeah!” Magnus says loudly, looking a bit energetic. “There’s always some sort of crazy drama that goes down and everyone’s so fake about everything. It’s actually pretty funny.” 

He’d never thought of galas as funny before but apparently Magnus could make anything fun. 

“I really like your outfit. Who is it?” 

Alec looks down at his suit and smiles. It’s simple but elegant, just like Izzy and he’s glad that he has a little piece of her on this night. He’s also glad that Magnus seemed to take note of it. 

“My sister, actually.” 

“Really?” Magnus asks, looking shocked, but intrigued. “Wow. How old is she?” 

“Twenty. She’s in college for fashion design.” 

“Clearly she doesn’t need it if she can make you something that amazing already.” Alec feels both proud of his sister and happy for himself over Magnus’ words. 

“Yeah, she’s great.”

“So you have a brother and a sister?”

Alec nods. “And another younger brother, but he lives with my parents still.” 

“Are you close with your parents?”

The question never fails to take him off guard when people ask him it. He pauses for a moment. He doesn’t want to get into his sad little sob story over it, but he wants to be open with Magnus in a way he never has with anyone else. 

“You don’t have to answer that,” Magnus speaks up after he’s quiet for a while. “I shouldn’t have asked.” 

“No, no. I want to tell you. It’s just,” he takes a deep breath before starting, “my mom always had these high hopes that I’d be a lawyer or doctor or a businessman, you know? She never really approved of my theatrical side; never even attended one of my plays when I was in school.” Magnus’ face turns sad, not like he’s pitying him but like he really understands. 

“When I started acting after college she was just… so disappointed and I thought that maybe if I could really make a name for myself and become someone out here, that she’d accept me, but she didn’t, not even when I won an Oscar.”

“And your dad?”

Alec laughs even though nothing’s funny. “He’s not much better than her.” He leaves it at that and looks back at his fidgeting hands. He wonders if he’ll ever be able to get over the fact that he’ll never be able to make his parents happy. 

He’s so focused on his thoughts that he doesn’t take note of the hand that’s slowly latching itself onto his own. He snaps his attention back to Magnus and the other man is looking at him with a serious expression as he squeezes his hand tightly.

“As long as you’re making yourself proud no one else matters, Alexander. You are the most important person in your life. Don’t do this for anyone else except yourself.” 

Alec stares at him, eyes burning slightly, and nods once. Magnus loosens his grip on Alec’s hand, but Alec grasps it tightly as if it’s the only thing that’s really keeping his thoughts together right now, which it kind of is. Magnus seems to understand, though and he simply smiles at him and sits there right next to Alec, holding his hand for the entire ride in silence. It’s so quiet that most people might think it’s awkward, but Alec finds comfort in the silence and holding Magnus’ hand keeps him grounded and suddenly he doesn’t feel so nervous anymore.

As soon as they arrive to the gala, they are bombarded with flashing lights and microphones being thrown into their faces. Jason stays in front of them to try to guide them through the crowd, but Alec still hears the questions.

“Magnus! Is there anyone new in your life?”

“Have you seen Camille since the divorce?” 

“Is it true you’re jealous over her new relationship?” 

“Alec! Is it true you had your costar fired from set?” 

“Mr. Lightwood, is it true you got kicked out of a club for doing drugs?”

And the one that really gets to him: “Is he your newest plaything, Mr. Bane?” Alec was taught to ignore paparazzi at all costs and to never show any indication that he was aware of the questions they were asking, but that one stopped him dead in his tracks. He paused at the words and briefly looked over to see just who it was that had asked such a question, but Magnus grabbed onto his elbow and guided his attention back towards him. 

“Don’t listen to them, Alexander,” he whispered into his ear, roughly. “They just want a story. You’re with me, okay?” 

He looks into Magnus’ eyes and he wants to say something but he can’t. He really needs to get out of this crowd and away from everyone with their prying eyes. He opens his mouth, but all that comes out is a choked noise. It seems to be enough for Magnus, though as he places his arm around Alec’s waist and leads him through the crowd himself. Despite the fact that they’re pretty much the same height, he feels incredibly small and safe in Magnus’ embrace. He can feel Magnus’ arm muscles and he’s leaning into his chest slightly, which allows him to feel his defined chest. 

Before he knows it, they’re safely inside and he can breathe again. 

“Are you okay? Hey, Alexander, look at me.” 

He does and he feels his heart start to calm down as he looks at Magnus. “Yeah,” he says, although it sounds a bit breathless. “I’m fine. I just, I don’t like crowds too much. I feel like I can’t breathe in them.” 

Magnus just nods as he looks over Alec and fixes the actor’s suit. “It’s okay now, okay? You’re fine.” 

And he is, he really is. He looks around and takes in his surroundings. There are a lot of people that he recognizes, some of them he knows personally and others he doesn’t. Everything is so elegant here and he has to wonder if maybe he doesn’t fit in. 

“You look perfect, darling. Stop fidgeting.” 

He hadn’t even realized that he was wringing his fingers nervously until Magnus had pointed it out. 

“Would you like to go say hi to some people?” 

“Um…”

“I’ll go with you.” That makes him feel a lot better and he immediately nods with a smile. “Okay, come on.” Magnus grabs his hand as he leads him through the crowd and it makes Alec blush. He’s never had someone hold his hand in a large crowd before, especially not in front of so many important people. He feels special. 

Magnus nods to some people and offers a polite “hello”, but he never actually stops to talk with any of them. It’s not until they approach a group of two girls and three guys that Magnus actually stops to talk to them. 

Alec recognizes one of them men as Ragnor Fell and he smiles warmly at him. Magnus introduces him to the other four people and they’re all really nice to him, which makes him feel a lot more at ease. They talk for a while in their little group and as the minutes go on, Alec can feel himself opening up more and more. 

He’s talking with one of the girls, Lydia Branwell, when a little squeal comes from behind him. He turns around and sees Clary, looking radiant with a red gown on and a bright smile. 

“Alec! Lydia! Magnus!” She runs up to the group and gives them all hugs. “I didn’t know you were coming to this,” she says pointedly to Alec. “Why didn’t you say anything? Who are you here with?”

“I, uh,” he stutters not really knowing what to say. Luckily Magnus comes to his recuse. 

“He’s with me, biscuit. As for why he didn’t say anything, well one can only guess why he wouldn’t.” 

Clary sticks her tongue out at him playfully. 

“Are you here alone?” Lydia asks. 

“Pretty much,” she answers as she tosses a long strand of her hair over her shoulder. “I mean, my mom and Luke are here somewhere, but as far as a date goes, I’ve got myself.” 

Alec tells himself to remember that. Jace would be pleased to know that Clary wasn’t dating anyone right now. Or at least, she wasn’t seeing anyone she deemed important enough to bring with her to an event like this. 

“I love your suit, Alec! Another Isabelle Lightwood original?”

“Yeah,” he smiles at her. “How’d you guess?” 

“Her taste is amazing. It definitely stands out against all these other dull guys.” She directs it towards Magnus, who playfully gasps in shock. 

“Isabelle?” Lydia asks. “Is that your sister or something?” 

Before he can answer, Clary speaks up. “Yeah! Oh my gosh, Lyds, you have to meet her! She’s so cool and trust me when I say, you haven’t seen real beauty till you’ve seen Isabelle Lightwood! Even their other brother…” she drowns off like she just realized that Alec was still standing there. He just sends her a knowing smirk. 

They all stand around talking to each other for a while before Magnus tugs on Alec’s hand and directs his attention back towards him. 

“Do you want to sit down?” He gestures to a table near them with nameplates and Alec nods. 

It’s a bit surreal to see his name next to Magnus’ on the seating arrangements. There are two other nameplates at the table, but Alec doesn’t know who they are. They aren’t currently sitting with them, though so he doesn’t worry.

“Are you having fun?” Magnus asks, a hesitant smile on his face like he doesn’t know if Alec is or not. 

“I am, yeah.” They’ve only been here for about forty minutes, but it’s been nice to see a few faces he does know and then to meet new people. Everyone Magnus knows is really kind, but then again he can’t imagine him ever being friends with someone who wasn’t. 

“I’m really glad, Alexander. I’m glad you decided to come with me tonight.” 

“You are?”

Magnus just hums and nods his head. Alec smiles and he feels his cheeks warm up.

“I’m glad, too.”

They sit there in a comfortable silence for a while before an old One Republic song comes on. Alec perks up as he hears it and Magnus takes note of his excitement. 

“A favorite of yours?”

“Yeah,” he nods as he sways back and forth in his seat. 

“Do you want to dance?” 

Alec stares at him. Magnus couldn’t possibly be asking what Alec thinks he’s asking… could he? 

“With me?” Magnus adds on as if he could hear Alec’s internal argument. 

“I um,” he feels his face turn red. “I’m a very bad dancer.” 

Magnus just laughs. “You can’t be any worse than Ragnor. Really, you should see him try to waltz.” 

Alec doesn’t mention that he doesn’t even know what a waltz is. Instead he just smiles. 

“Sure,” he says as he stands up. “I’d like to dance with you.” 

“Just don’t step on my toes.” Magnus winks at him and takes his hand as he leads him out to the dance floor where quite a few other people are dancing. Alec notices that none of them are same sex couples and he feels a bit nervous. Sure, he’s out and proud, but he never really goes around making statements about it. He’s a very private guy and although he doesn’t think it’d be a problem to dance with Magnus, he can’t help but feel uneasy. 

All of that fades away as soon as Magnus spins him around. Alec laughs, taken off guard, and grins as Magnus pulls him in closely. They’re apart from everyone else, standing off on their own and Alec enjoys the feeling of being a part of the group yet having Magnus all to himself. 

He gets lost in the feeling of their chests being pressed together as they move back and forth to the beat of the music. He’s never really danced with anyone before aside from Izzy and Jace, but he likes dancing with Magnus. He’s a lot better to hold than Izzy’s small frame and he moves more gracefully than Jace does. 

He’s not sure how long they stand there, swaying back and forth, but when he tunes in again the song has changed. Magnus hasn’t mentioned anything about going to sit back down and Alec sure as hell isn’t going to say anything so he just stays there, wrapped in the warmth of the older man. 

Everything feel so perfect and Magnus feels so perfect against him, like their bodies were made for each other and Alec’s getting a bit drunk off the feeling of it all. 

That is, until a delicate hand touches his shoulder and squeezes it a little too hard. He reluctantly pulls himself away from Magnus, who is staring at the culprit with a cold look that Alec’s never actually seen before. 

“Mind if I cut in?” The person says and Alec straightens up. He’s heard that voice enough times in interviews to know exactly who it is before he even turns around. 

He looks over his shoulder and sure enough, he’s right. 

Magnus clears his throat. 

“Hello, Camille,” he says calmly and Alec wants to run away. “It’s been a while.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BAM!   
> I wonder what could possibly happen now... ;D hope you guys don't hate me too much for leaving it there, but I had to!   
> feel free to come yell at me on [tumblr](http://camelotskingz.tumblr.com)! haha. as always, thank you for reading. <3


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any and all mistakes are mine.   
> I really hope you guys enjoy this one. :)

You know those people in life that when you see them, your blood just kind of goes cold and you feel like you can’t even look them in the eyes because they just look so incredibly evil? 

That was Camille Belcourt. 

She was beautiful, of course she was, but the kind of beauty that looks like she’s mocking you for not being as pretty as her. She was intimidating to look at, so Alec didn’t. He kept his eyes firmly on the ground away from hers. Her hand was still placed on his shoulder and it wasn’t until she finally pulled away that he felt like he could breathe again.

“Magnus,” she purred out and Alec wanted to scream at her to go away. “How have you been, darling?” 

_He’s fine,_ Alec thinks to himself. _He’s here with me. He doesn’t need you. He doesn’t miss you. He has me._ He’s thinking it, but he doesn’t say it, because in a way, it’s not true. He can dream, though. 

Magnus however, does say something. His words are clipped and his tone is like ice through Alec’s veins as he tells his ex-wife that he’s fine. It’s weird to think that Magnus and Camille were married at one point. It doesn’t even feel real to Alec. How could Magnus, sweet and charming, marry someone like Camille?

“I’m so glad you’re doing good, love.” Alec wants her to stop with all the pet names. Those are things that Magnus calls him now. Had Magnus also called her them? He decides not to think about it. He isn’t with Camille anymore, so it doesn’t really matter. “And who’s this?” 

She turns her attention to Alec, who looks up from the floor now and into her eyes that look like they’re staring right into his soul. She asks the question like she couldn’t careless, which he’s sure is true. It’s also insulting, because most people know who he is these days, not to sound arrogant, and Alec is almost completely positive that she knows who he is. She’s just being petty. 

“This is Alexander Lightwood. I’m sure you know who he is.” Magnus wraps his hand around Alec’s wrist softly and pulls the younger man back towards him. Camille takes note of this and while her eyes narrow, her smile stays in place.

“Yes,” she hums out, giving him a condescending look. “You’re that little farm boy from New York who thought he could make it big, correct?” His face heats up in embarrassment at her words. He isn’t ashamed of where he came from, but she says it like he’s the lowest of the low and well, it really fucking hurts. “I guess it’s true. They do just hand out Oscars to anyone these days. Shame.” 

“Is there a reason you’re here, Camille?” Magnus speaks up. He doesn’t sound angry. He sounds very calm and it bothers Alec. Why isn’t Magnus standing up for him?

“Just wanted to say hi, Magnus,” she says innocently with wide eyes. “Remember when we used to come to these? We had so much fun together, especially afterwards.” She smirks and gives Magnus an once-over. “I’m sure you know all about that, don’t you, Alec?” 

Alec’s eyes widen at what she’s insinuating. 

“I, I,” he stutters and immediately feels stupid. The first time he’s opened his mouth since she’s been here and he’s making a fool of himself.

“Oh!” Camille says, faking surprise. “You two aren’t together, are ya’ll?” When neither of them says anything, she smiles, a feral thing. “That makes much more sense. No offense, but you’re definitely not Magnus’ type. You’re much too…” she trails off, circling her hand like she’s trying to think, “disheveled.” 

Why is it that someone always says “no offense” right before they offend you?

“Although,” she speaks up again and Alec wonders if she’ll ever stop, “you are very young with a pretty face. Magnus always liked them young. Didn’t you, darling?” 

Both of them turn to Magnus, who up until now had remained quiet. Alec nearly gasps as he’s sees the other man’s face. He looks pissed, scary even, and it throws Alec off. He’s never seen Magnus with that kind of expression before. However, judging by Camille’s wide grin and the way she’s biting her lip, she’s seen it plenty of times and probably even thrives off of it.

“Are you done, Camille?” 

She doesn’t look put off at all by Magnus’ dismissive tone. She just keeps grinning and sighs, a dreamy noise. 

“I’m just saying darling, there’s no need to lower your standards. If you’re trying to make me jealous, consider it done.” 

Alec can’t believe that she would admit to that, but he can’t help the thoughts that start to whirl around in his head. Was Magnus lowering his standards? Alec knows that he’s not exactly a model like Camille, but he thought he was okay. Who was he kidding, though? Why would Magnus go from a centerfold beauty to a farm raised nobody who got lucky? He wouldn’t. 

“Goodbye, Magnus. I’m sure we’ll be in touch.” She waves and walks off so gracefully that Alec can’t help but to envy her. 

He momentarily forgets that Magnus is still there with him as he feels his eyes start to burn. 

“Alexander?” Magnus questions. “Hey, it’s okay. Look at me.”

He turns around and Magnus must see the way he feels and how his eyes are a bit wet now, because his face falls almost immediately. 

“Alec, I’m so sorry.” He reaches out for Alec’s arm, but Alec reels back. “What’s wrong?”

_What’s wrong?_ Alec wants to shout. He doesn’t. Instead he just shakes his head and wills his eyes to stop watering. 

“I just need some air. I’ll be back.” He doesn’t wait around to see what Magnus has to say before he turns around and speed walks out of the crowded room. There’s a garden in the back of the building and he’s thankful to see that the only people out there are an elderly couple who seem to be pretty much in their own world. 

He takes a seat on one of the benches. It’s hard and cold and not very comfortable, but he doesn’t really pay any attention to it. All he can really focus on is how stupid he feels. 

He knew that tonight wasn’t a date by any means, but sometime during the night he had started to think that maybe, just maybe, it could have been something more. The way Magnus seemed to be protective over him outside, and the dance. He faintly smiles as he thinks back on the dance. It had felt so right dancing with Magnus and he couldn’t help the way his stomach had started to tighten in excitement as he thought more about it. But maybe that’s all he was doing, was putting way too much thought behind everything. 

He’s so caught up in his thoughts that he doesn’t even take note of someone sitting next to him. 

“You know,” the person speaks up, “I don’t think I’ve seen Magnus this happy in years.” 

He doesn’t say anything. 

“Camille really did a number on him even before they were married. I don’t think he ever really loved her as much as he loved the idea of her and what she could give him: a family, kids.” There’s a sigh and then a hand is placed on Alec’s knee. “He talks about you a lot, you know?” 

This time he turns his head and looks at Clary, silently telling her to go on. 

“Not much to me,” she says with a smile. “He probably thinks I’d blab to you, which I totally would, but he talks to Luke a lot and my mom, too. Apparently he thinks the sun shines out of your ass or something.”

Alec laughs.

“It was just intense, you know?” He says, taking a deep breath. “I mean Magnus and I aren’t anything and yet, seeing Camille and listening to the things she was saying? It hurt. What if everyone thinks that about me?” 

“Thinks what? That you’re a farm boy who got lucky? You are.” He glares at Clary, but she just smiles. “You did get lucky, Alec, because you’re _good_. You’re a damn good actor, so yes you are lucky, but aren’t we all? Camille’s never had to work for anything. She just has a pretty face and the right contacts, but you? You worked your ass off to get where you are, so own it and appreciate it. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

He’s not sure if he ever was ashamed. He’s never been ashamed of his past before, but having Camille throw it all in his face was a bit embarrassing. Now he has to wonder why he was ever embarrassed in the first place. Clary’s right, he did work his ass off to get where he is and he should be proud of himself. 

“And the rest of the world?” He asks. “A pap asked if I was his newest plaything.” 

Clary inhales sharply. “Yikes.” 

“Yeah,” is all he whispers out. 

“Well, the rest of the world will always have something negative to say. It doesn’t matter what you’re doing, there will always be people who don’t approve. You could be saving the world and people would still have something nasty to say, but as long as you’re happy, why does anyone else matter?”

“You’re talking as if Magnus ever even had any interest in me,” he snorts. “If anything, I’m just the star struck fan who was lucky enough to land a lead in his movie. It’s not that deep.” 

“I don’t know about that,” Clary says as she stands up and looks behind them. “Maybe you should ask him.” 

He follows her gaze, confused, and is actually surprised when he sees Magnus standing behind him, looking guilty and something else that Alec can’t place. Clary gives him a soft smile and he just glares at her as she walks away, patting Magnus on the arm and whispering something to him before going back inside.

Alec looks at Magnus, who is looking anywhere but at Alec, and then turns back to stare at the flower bush he’d been studying before Clary came out. 

The grass crunches from behind him, but this time at least he knows who’s sneaking up on him. Magnus doesn’t sit down like Clary did; instead he stays standing, but he’s right behind Alec. If Alec were to lean back just a little bit, he’d feel him against him. Which is why he makes sure to sit up straight. 

“Star struck fan, huh?” Magnus finally says, breaking the silence. Alec takes note that the elderly couple is no longer anywhere near them. They’re alone now. “I could probably say the same about myself.” 

Alec wants to laugh and say that’s probably not true, but he just stays quiet and straight-faced. 

“Ever since I first saw you in that terrible Made for TV movie about those robots that took over the world, I knew you were meant for bigger things. I’m just as much of a fan of you as you are of me. What difference does any of that make?” The grass crunches again and then Magnus is right next to him, sitting down. 

“I don’t get it,” is what he says, because well, it’s true. Just what exactly is Magnus trying to say here? 

“I thought I loved her. I would have done anything for her.” Alec doesn’t want to hear any of this, but he doesn’t say so. “From the moment we first started dating, she told me that she didn’t do the whole serious commitment thing and I was okay with that, because I just felt lucky that I had her at all, even when she started cheating on me.” 

“That’s fucked up,” Alec says seriously. 

“Yeah,” Magnus laughs softly even though nothing’s funny, “it was. I guess I felt like as long as she was coming back home to me at night that it didn’t matter. It was the first time I had ever really been in love before and I was stupid and young.”

“I guess I thought that by marrying her, she would stop and realize that all she needed was me, but she didn’t.”

“Why would you do that to yourself?” Alec asks in horror because he just has to know. 

“I don’t really know, but that’s not what I came out here to say.” Magnus takes a deep breath and turns to face Alec, who does the same. “For so long, I felt nothing but absolute misery and self loathing and then I built up this wall around me and even after Camille moved out, I refused to let myself get close to anyone and then I met you.” 

Alec’s eyes widen as he stares at Magnus, who doesn’t look so sad anymore. 

“From that first moment I met you when you were auditioning, I could feel myself slowly becoming intrigued by everything about you. You were so different from anyone I had ever met before and I liked it.”

“Showing up drunk that night at your house wasn’t really an accident.” Alec’s lips part in confusion, but Magnus talks before he can say anything. “Part of me was a little too intoxicated, but another part of me knew what I was doing and wanted to see you so bad. Doesn’t that say something? That I hardly knew you yet you were the only person I wanted to see at my lowest?”

“It says that you’re insane,” Alec answers with a smile. 

“Maybe,” Magnus smiles back and shrugs. “I just need you to know that it’s not just you, okay? I feel something for you too, Alexander.”

The words hit him full force and he has to remember how to breathe. This can’t be happening, Magnus can’t be serious about this. He must be giving Magnus a weird look, because the other man laughs. 

“You didn’t really think I invited you here just so you could meet other people, did you?” 

“Well, yeah,” he says because that’s what he honestly thought; that’s what Magnus had told him. Looks like Izzy and Jace were right, not that he’d ever admit that to them. 

“Definitely not. Aside from introducing you to a few of my close friends, I wanted you all to myself, Alexander.” 

Alec finally allows himself to grin at the words, believing them with everything he had. 

“I’m all yours,” he says softly. “But can I ask you something?”

“Of course, anything.”

“When Camille was saying all those things about me, why didn’t you defend me? I mean, obviously you weren’t obligated to, but…” he drowns off, hating that he’s asking, but he just has to know. He doesn’t care how insecure it might make him seem.

Magnus gives him a sad look. “I didn’t know it bothered you that I hadn’t. I’m sorry if you thought I didn’t deem you important enough or anything. It’s just that I know how Camille is. If I had reacted, it would have just encouraged her. I’ve learned that ignoring her is usually the best way to get rid of her.”

Alec laughs lightly. “I just don’t want to be that small town boy who got lucky and is living off the really successful older man. You know that’s what everyone will say and I just don’t know if I can handle of all that.”

“Well, I’ll probably be the pervy older man who’s brainwashing the young and innocent boy,” Magnus jokes back. “But this doesn’t have to be a thing, Alexander. You know that, right?”

He thinks it over. A small part of him doesn’t want this to be a thing, but a bigger part of him is yelling at him to not let this go. He likes Magnus and for some crazy reason, Magnus likes him too. Why shouldn’t he be allowed to be happy?

“What if I want it to be a thing?” He asks. 

“If it makes you happy.”

“Well what about you?” Magnus looks at him in question. “Would you be happy?”

“I think you’ll find that as long as you’re happy, so am I.” 

Alec smiles. He doesn’t say anything else, but he does move closer to Magnus and places his head on the older man’s shoulder. He moves his hand over to Magnus’ and hesitates before he laces their fingers together and squeezes tightly. 

“You’re so sappy,” he says as he studies their fingers and the way they interlock together perfectly. 

“Only for you.”

He’s not looking at him, but he can already picture the small smile that’s on Magnus’ face. _Only for you_ , he likes the sound of that. With a content smile, he closes his eyes and thinks he could really get used to this. 

 

The rest of the night passes with ease. They don’t see Camille again and Alec is thankful for little miracles. He stays glued to Magnus’ side the entire night and he’s sure he’s being a bit clingy, but Magnus doesn’t seem to mind so he doesn’t either. They dance a few more times, this time with bright eyes and knowing smiles. Clary must pick up on their change of attitude, since she sends Alec multiple winks throughout the night. 

Once it gets late, people start to leave and Magnus asks if Alec’s ready to go or not. As much as he does want to leave everyone’s prying eyes, he isn’t ready to say goodbye to Magnus. He’s finally happy and having a good time and he isn’t ready to let it all go. Who knows what will happen in the morning? 

Clary tells them there’s going to be some sort of after party at one of her friend’s places, but Alec has had enough of crowds for the day. He tells Magnus as much and the two say their goodbyes to everyone before walking off to the limo. The swarm of paparazzi isn’t nearly as bad as it was earlier and although there are still questions being yelled at them, Alec’s able to drown each of them out. 

“Home?” Magnus questions once they’re seated comfortably. 

As much as he wants to say no, he knows he needs to get back home to Izzy. 

“I want to say no, but I know I need to be home.” 

Magnus gets it, of course he does, because he’s so amazing and he just nods with a smile before he leans in to tell the driver where to go. 

“Thank you for coming with me tonight, Alexander. Despite the little mess we ran into, I think this night turned out quite favorable.” 

“I guess we were the drama for the night.” 

“Hmm?” Magnus questions as he slides over closer to Alec.

“You said there was always some unnecessary drama, looks like that happened to be us this time.”

Magnus laughs. “I think you’re right.” 

They sit there in silence after that, just looking at one another as if studying each other. Alec wants to be able to learn every little part of Magnus. He wants to be able to see his face perfectly when he closes his eyes at night. 

“I want to kiss you,” he whispers out suddenly. He’s a bit taken aback by his own words. He hadn’t even been thinking about kissing Magnus, but he had been staring at the other man’s lips and well, he couldn’t help himself. 

Magnus looks a bit shocked as well, but his smile never falters. “Then kiss me.” 

So he does. He leans in slowly and places his lips onto Magnus’ gently. Alec’s no expert kisser and he isn’t sure what to do with his hands, so he just keeps them firmly at his sides. Magnus’ lips are soft and Alec worries that maybe his own are a little too chapped. Magnus doesn’t seem to mind though, as he leans into the kiss and places his hand on Alec’s shoulder to steady himself. 

It’s a slow kiss, a sweet one, the way a first kiss with someone should be, but it’s not enough for Alec. He wants more of Magnus. He wants all of him. He lifts his hands and brings them to the back of Magnus’ neck and lets one of them grip at the bottom of his hair. Magnus must like it, if the moan he lets out is anything to go by, and Alec slides closer to him so that he’s almost sitting on Magnus’ lap. 

As the kiss gets dirtier, he finally lets himself go and hikes one leg up over Magnus’ lap and straddles the older man right there in the back of the limo. He watches as Magnus’ eyes widen before he smirks and then Alec is leaning down and latching his lips onto Magnus’ neck. 

He nips him gently, he’s not trying to leave him any marks, but Magnus has a nice neck and Alec just wants to show it some appreciation. He grins as Magnus groans and lets his head roll to the side, giving Alec all the access he needs. 

Once he’s done nipping away, he grips Magnus’ hair and pulls his head back upright so he can kiss him again. This time, Magnus grips onto Alec’s own waist tightly and brings their bodies closer together. He’s not even sure they can get any closer, but apparently they’re going to try. 

He isn’t even aware that he’s grinding his hips down until Magnus pulls away from the kiss to moan out. It’s a loud, filthy thing and Alec double checks to make sure the partition is rolled all the way up. He wonders if the driver can hear them and he finds out that he doesn’t really care if he can. 

Alec hopes the whole world can hear them. 

He goes back to kissing Magnus and they’re both so lost in each other that they don’t realize that they’ve been parked outside of Alec’s building for a good five minutes. It’s not until their driver knocks on the door that they finally, and reluctantly, pull away from each other. 

Alec looks at Magnus’ swollen lips and pink cheeks and he can’t help but to laugh. Magnus is laughing as well and it’s nice. It feels good to be able to laugh with someone even after an intense make out session. It’s not awkward, it feels right and Alec loves it. 

“I didn’t mean to keep you,” Magnus says, even though his facial expression says yes, he definitely meant to keep Alec. 

“I wasn’t complaining.” 

“You have my number. Text me right before you go to bed,” he instructs and Alec just nods. 

Magnus leans in and gives him one last gentle kiss before he pulls away and finally lets Alec out of the limo. 

“Magnus?” Alec calls out, before closing the door. Magnus just looks at him. “Thank you for tonight.” 

Magnus stills. “Even with messy hair and swollen lips, you’re still the most gorgeous thing I’ve ever seen.” Alec blushes at the words and Magnus grins. “Remember: text me.” 

The driver closes the door and even after the limo drives off, Alec is still standing there on the curb, with a dazed look on his face. He touches his lips absentmindedly and if he focuses hard enough, he can still feel Magnus all over him and he loves it. 

Once he finally makes it into his apartment, he sees that Izzy is crashed out on the couch with the TV still on. He smiles, knowing that he’ll probably have a lot of explaining to do in the morning, and goes to turn off the TV and cover her with one of his blankets. 

He gets himself ready for bed and once he’s finally laying down and on the verge of sleep, he sends Magnus a text letting him know that he’s safely home and about to go to bed. 

Magnus just sends back a simple “thank you”.

Alec isn’t sure whether he’s thanking him for the text or for the night, but either way, he goes to sleep that night with a smile on his face and for the first time in a long time, he feels really good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :') wow, things can only go up from here, right? RIGHT?   
> as always, feel free to talk to me on [tumblr](http://camelotskingz.tumblr.com)! and I hope you guys liked it <3


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so um, this is almost a month late... please don't hate me! moving sucks, guys. by the end of October, my life should finally be together so please just deal with my irregular updates until then. :')
> 
> things get a little frisky in this chapter! it's my first time EVER writing anything smutty so please don't judge me too harshly. 
> 
> any and all mistakes are mine. hope you guys enjoy. <3

The following days after their whole confession make out session, Alec and Magnus realize that they might have a bit of an obsession problem. Text messages were sent back and forth all weekend from the moment they woke up to the moment they went to sleep. Phone calls were made in the early hours of the morning, Alec whispering into the phone even though he had no reason to, and Magnus talking colorfully about everything and anything. Days filming seemed so much better as they snuck kisses in hidden parts on set even though everyone kind of knew how they felt about each other. 

Alec wondered if it was possible to fall for someone so fast and hard. He could have sworn that things like this only happened in the sappiest of romance novels, but standing here with his arms around Magnus as the older man smiled at him like he hung the moon, Alec felt like he was living every love story ever written. 

“Come over for dinner tonight,” Magnus said quietly before kissing Alec softly on the lips. Alec closed his eyes and allowed himself to melt into the kiss, never really wanting to pull away. If Magnus was a drug then Alec was the worst of addicts and he never planned on getting sober. 

“You going to cook for me?” He teases against Magnus’ lips. 

“Anything you want.” 

It’s so promising and Alec hums in satisfaction. He hasn’t been over to Magnus’ yet and he can’t help the jolt of excitement that goes through him at the idea. Being at his sort of boyfriend’s house all alone? What more could a boy ask for? 

“Seven sound good?”

“Perfect,” Magnus purrs out and Alec can’t help himself from tugging the older man into him roughly before attacking his lips with his own. He’s lost in the kiss and the way Magnus completely melts into him, that he doesn’t even register that someone has been trying to get their attention until he hears a loud cough. 

He pulls away, half annoyed and half sheepish, to see Clary standing there with her hands on her hips and a smirk on her face. 

“Hi, yes, if you guys are quite done here, we’d like to finish up this scene.” Magnus yanks himself away from Alec and Alec doesn’t even try to hide his disappointment. “Honestly, it’s a little unprofessional for a director to be skipping scenes in order to make out with the star, don’t you think?” 

She’s kidding, of course she’s kidding, but Alec sees the way Magnus straightens up and glares at her. He doesn’t like it. He doesn’t know what’s going through Magnus’ head, but he doesn’t like the sudden change of attitude so he reaches out and grabs his hand softly and squeezes it in comfort. It seems to do the trick and Magnus sags his shoulders a little in ease. 

“Just because you’re not getting any doesn’t mean the rest of us can’t.” 

Clary’s eyes widen and Alec practically chokes on nothing at Magnus’ words before he cracks up laughing.

“You don’t know that!” Clary snaps, turning red as Magnus and Alec keep laughing. She glares and turns her attention towards Alec. “Hey, that reminds me, Alec, tell Jace that I left my black bra at his place last night.” 

This time it’s Alec who turns red as his jaw drops open and he immediately stops laughing. Magnus however seems to find this absolutely hilarious and he throws his head back onto Alec’s chest as he howls with laughter. Alec would totally throw him off except he’s too stunned to actually do anything except stand there with his mouth open. 

“Tell him I’d really like it back. It’s from this really cute lingerie set that I got from La Perla and it’s my favorite. Thanks!” She sends him one last smirk before turning around and skipping away from the two men. 

“Oh my god,” Magnus wheezes out as he turns around and warps his arms around Alec, “she totally just burned your ass! Holy shit, I love that girl.” 

Alec finally snaps out of his stupor and scowls as he swats Magnus’ hands away from him. It doesn’t seem to upset the other man at all, who just continues to stand there grinning. 

“Shut up,” Alec growls, “lets go film this damn scene.” He storms off, but he can still hear Magnus laughing behind him and his lips twitch just the slightest bit at the sound. 

He still flips Magnus off when the older man finally catches up to him, though. 

 

Five hours and one very long talk with Jace later, Alec finds himself at Magnus house. He knew to expect something big and luxurious; Magnus was a big time director after all, but that still didn’t stop him from feeling absolutely intimidated as he sat in his car outside on the very long and lavish drive way. 

Alec isn’t a stranger to money, but he’s never actually been one to show it off so drastically. He gives a lot of what he has to his siblings and he pays for their shared apartment and Izzy’s college tuition. He doesn’t have a super fancy house, although he does have a nice apartment, but still. He wonders why on earth Magnus would need a house so enormous when it’s just him living in it. The though saddens him as much as it confuses him. 

Before he can think more on the subject, Magnus actually walks out into his line of view as he smiles brightly and waves to Alec. Alec takes this as his cue to turn off his car engine and finally make his way to his boyfriend. He feels a bit nervous, but the moment Magnus engulfs him into a hug, he feels all the worry ease from his body. 

“I was wondering if you were ever actually going to get down,” Magnus laughs. 

Alec’s face turns red at the fact that Magnus had noticed him just sitting in his car like some weirdo stalker. “Sorry about that.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Magnus pulls away and pushes Alec’s hair away from his face and settles his hand onto his cheek in a loving manner. “It can be a little intense, I know. You don’t have to apologize for being overwhelmed.” 

Is it possible to find someone so perfect? Magnus is like a dream come true and Alec honestly wonders if he’s even real sometimes. Some days it feels as if he’s dreaming and he’s just waiting for his parents to wake him up for school. How can any of this be real? How could he possibly be this lucky? 

“I know you said you wanted spaghetti, but I might have had an accident or two…” he trails off, looking towards to the ground and Alec’s interest spikes. 

“An accident?”

“I might have dropped the sauce all over the floor so I had to clean it all up and then I might have burnt the noodles and well, by that time I was rushing, so you’re going to have to let go of the Lady and the Tramp dream and say hello to kabobs!” 

“Kabobs?” Alec laughs as he follows Magnus into the large house. It’s a lot less intimidating with him by his side. 

“Ham and pineapple kabobs with rice!” He says proudly. 

“I’ve never had ham and pineapple before together. That’s weird.”

“Well not all of us are chefs, Alexander. Would _you_ like to make something instead?” He sends Alec a glare and the latter holds his hands up in mock defense, allowing Magnus to go to what he assumes is the kitchen. It’s pretty and well kept and Alec could already see Izzy having a field day in here. Granted, Izzy can’t cook to save her life but that surely doesn’t stop her from trying and making her brothers try her poisonous food. It’s cute in a very disgusting way. 

Magnus grabs the plates that are already filled with food and when Alec goes to try and help him, he pushes him away saying that he’s trying to be a good host. Alec rolls his eyes but he lets Magnus do his thing. 

“What would you like to drink? Wine? Champagne? I don’t know if I have any beer, but I could always get some.” He watches as Magnus starts to look through his fridge and cabinets in a rush and Alec finds it all really cute, but it’s also making him anxious. 

“Water’s fine, Magnus.” 

The older man looks like he doesn’t believe Alec, but a smile seems to convince him and he nods before pulling out a glass and a bottle of Voss water, pouring it into the glass. Alec has to stop himself from rolling his eyes. Of course Magnus would have Voss water. Alec usually drinks out of the faucet, but oh well.

“I don’t condone drinking faucet water,” Magnus says as if he could read Alec’s mind. 

“Why’s that?”

“Ever seen Cabin Fever?” Alec shakes his head. “Well, you should, because that’s why.” He hands Alec the glass of water and the younger man just takes it while giving Magnus a weird look. 

He follows Magnus down to the table and the two talk while eating their food. Alec finds that he was really hungry, as he seems to devour his food a hell of a lot faster than Magnus did. 

“Do you want some of mine?” Magnus asks with a laugh and Alec glares playfully. 

“No, no. It’s fine. I just didn’t realize I was so hungry.”

“Darling, please,” Magnus scoffs with an eye roll before grabbing his fork and kabob and sliding half of his pineapples and ham onto Alec’s plate. “I had a late lunch today with Ragnor. You’re a growing boy after all.” 

Alec rolls his eyes at Magnus’ teasing, but thanks him for sharing the rest of his kabob. He really was starving today, probably because he skipped lunch to go over a few lines with Clary. 

“I was thinking we could watch a movie if you’re not busy for the rest of the night.”

“Here? Or at the theatre?” He asks, mouth full of pineapple and rice. Magnus glares at him, but this just causes him to smile brightly. 

“You’re disgusting, but here. I just got the new Marvel movie.”

“Captain America?” He asks with hearts in his eyes. Magnus just nods. “Oh, my god, yes. I love Bucky Barnes so much.”

“Don’t we all?”

“He’s so thick,” Alec whispers as he bites down on his empty fork. 

“Excuse me?” 

Alec takes the fork out of his mouth, face turning red. He hadn’t meant to say that out loud. 

“I said he’s so slick. You know, ‘cause he’s the Winter Soldier and all.” 

Magnus just looks at him like he’s not buying his shit for one second, but Alec just smiles sheepishly. 

He sits by quietly after that as Alec finishes up dinner. For something that he hadn’t been so sure of at first, he finds himself really loving Magnus’ weird kabobs. Once he’s finished, they put their dishes away and clean up together. He knows it’s silly but he can’t help himself from thinking about how natural this all feels. Dinner, talking about their days together, cleaning up together, watching a movie cuddled up on the couch? He doesn’t have anything to compare it to, but he doesn’t think he could ask for a better first boyfriend. 

But are he and Magnus’ boyfriends? They kiss a lot, but that’s really all they do. They talk on the phone and text each other, but tonight is really the first date night they’ve had. He doesn’t count the whole gala fiasco because he hadn’t known it was a date at all. He doesn’t even think Magnus really knew that either. He wants Magnus to be his boyfriend, of course he does. While he had been infatuated with the older man from the interviews and magazines before, he found himself falling for the strong and vivacious person who stood across from him now, dish towel in his hand and sweats resting low on his hips. 

Does Magnus want to be his boyfriend though? Alec knows that he’s really young and probably a lot less inexperienced than Magnus is. He doesn’t really think that would be a problem for either of them, but what if it is? Camille had made a jab at his age and he can’t help but feel like maybe she was right. 

“I can hear you thinking from here, Alexander.” 

And then there was that. He knew it was his name and everything, but the way Magnus said it made it seems so damn intimate, more intimate than anything else he had ever been called. Then there were the moments when he would call him darling and Alec just wanted to melt against him, but did it really mean anything? Izzy calls her friends “babe” or “love” all the time, so maybe it’s just a thing Magnus does. 

“Darling?” Magnus reaches out to him and places a hand on Alec’s shoulder. 

“What are we?” 

And okay, he could have been a lot smoother about that. He feels his face heat up in embarrassment and he pulls away from Magnus, who now has a look of surprise on his face.

“I’m sorry, I um, I didn’t mean to ask you that. I was, I don’t, we—.”

“Alexander, calm down.” 

Alec takes a deep breath.

“What do you want us to be?”

“Why does it have to be what I want?” Alec yelps out. He doesn’t like feeling like everything is up to him. What about what Magnus wants?

Magnus just smiles at him gently. “You’re young, Alexander. From what I’m aware of, you’ve never been in a serious relationship and especially not under the thousands of cameras and questions in Hollywood. I don’t want you to do anything you don’t want to do.” He pauses. “Do you want to just continue as we are? No labels?”

Alec thinks about it and shakes his head.

“Do you want us to have a title?”

“I don’t know. I don’t…” he sighs and runs a hand over his face. “What about you, Magnus? I mean you were married. Do you even want to jump into something with me after that? I get it if you don’t, you know.”

“I haven’t been with Camille in a long time, Alexander, despite what the tabloids might say. Why wouldn’t I want to be with you? Who am I to turn away a good thing and my happiness just because someone else thinks that I could be moving on too soon? That’s ridiculous.” 

“I want to be with you officially, but I don’t know if I want everyone to know.” It’s not because he’s embarrassed or ashamed, because he isn’t, not at all. He’s just not sure if he can deal with all the attention him and Magnus would get as a couple, especially since Magnus is newly single in the public’s eyes. He’s seen the press rip apart couples that get together after one of them was in a serious relationship and he doesn’t think he could go through that. He also doesn’t want to have to put Magnus through anything like that. At least not just yet. 

“Is that okay? I mean we can just be together and not have to tell anyone, right? That’s not bad. That’s okay, right?”

Magnus leans forward and places a soft kiss on Alec’s forehead, calming the other man down considerably. 

“That’s more than fine, darling. I told you that we don’t have to do anything you’re not comfortable with. We can just be together, just us two and no one has to know a damn thing if you don’t want them to.”

“One day,” Alec says. “One day we can tell everyone, but for now maybe just our close friends?”

“That sounds perfect to me.”

Alec smiles, relieved that Magnus gets it and happy now that he knows exactly where they stand with each other. 

“Now come on,” Magnus says as he stands up from the table and holds his hand out to Alec, “lets go check out Bucky Barnes and his thick thighs.” 

Alec groans. 

 

He’s not sure when, but he must have fallen asleep sometime during the movie because when he finally comes to, he’s laying down with his head in Magnus’ lap and the older man has his feet up on the coffee table and his head is titled off to the side as he’s snoring lightly. 

The TV screen is playing the title menu on loop and Alec turns onto his head to watch it. Magnus’ thighs are quite comfortable and he rubs his cheek against them, loving the way they feel both soft and firm under him. His movement must wake up his boyfriend though, because he feels a hand squeeze his arm gently. 

“Better than Bucky Barnes?” Magnus questions, voice deep and groggy with sleep, just like Alec likes it.

“Mm, not quite,” he teases. Magnus just slaps him gently on the arm in mock offense and Alec grins. He’s not sure why, but he’s feeling extra playful right now, which leads him to turn his side to the side and bite Magnus’ thigh softly. 

The other man gasps and straightens up a little bit as he stares down at Alec with wide eyes, who looks back up innocently. 

“You’re a minx.” 

“You think so?” Alec asks with wide eyes and a cunning smile. Magnus just glares at him. “I think you like it.” This time when he bites Magnus’ thigh, it’s a little higher up and he nudges the spot afterwards with his nose. 

“It’s late,” Magnus says as if it matters. “We should sleep. We can go to my bedroom.”

“We could do that,” Alec nods, sitting up, “or we could do something else.” He slides off the couch and kneels in between Magnus’ legs which are opened a lot wider than they had been about three seconds ago. The thought makes him smirk. 

He places his hands onto the top of Magnus’ thighs and rubs them up and down in a soothing manner. Magnus bites his lip and Alec decides to take that as a green light. He’s just about to place his fingers on Magnus’ zipper, when the older man grabs his hands and stops him. 

“Alexander, have you ever done this before?” 

He doesn’t sound condensing or anything, he just sounds curious, but Alec can’t help the way his face heats up in embarrassment. Of course he’s never done something like this before. He wants to say that he has, that way Magnus won’t look at him like he’s pathetic, but that would be lying. But then again, Magnus doesn’t have to know everything. 

“Yes.” He lies, trying to move his hands from Magnus’s grip, but it just tightens.

“Look at me.” 

Alec sighs and does. Magnus’ eyes are hard and he looks very serious now. It both turns on Alec and scares him a bit. 

“Don’t lie to me, darling.”

He wonders just what it is about him that’s giving off a vibe that he’s lying. He’d always thought he had a good poker face. He was an actor after all, wasn’t he supposed to be good at lying?

“No,” he whispers out before he even realizes it.

“Why’d you lie?”

“I don’t want you to think I’m some inexperienced virgin.”

“But you are an inexperienced virgin.” 

He looks up from the ground to glare at Magnus but stops when he sees that the older man is looking at him with something akin to amazement and wonder. 

“Well, I didn’t want _you_ to know that.”

Magnus puts a hand onto his cheek and strokes it gently, allowing Alec to lean into the touch like it’s a reflex. 

“Don’t be embarrassed. You never have to be embarrassed around me.” The words are so sweet and Alec knows that Magnus is right. He knows that if anything, Magnus will always be the one person he can trust to never judge him or look down on him. “You also don’t have to do something just because you think it’s what I might want.”

He thinks about the words before rolling his lip around with his teeth. “What if it’s something I want to do?”

“Is it?” 

“Yes.” And it is. It really, really is. 

“Okay. What do you want to do, Alexander?” Magnus says it so playfully and teasing that it calms Alec to see that they’re both on the same page now. It also sends a jolt of excitement through him to think that Magnus wants him to actually say the words out loud. He’s not sure if he can, so instead he just shrugs as he looks down. 

“You know,” he says. 

“Tell me what you want to do.” 

Alec wants to hide his face in embarrassment, but at the same time he can feel his mouth water just thinking about it and he loves how Magnus can be both playful and commanding at the same time. It eases his nerves in a way nothing ever has before. 

“Give you a blowjob,” he says so quietly that he doesn’t even really hear it himself.

“What was that?”

He licks his lips and looks up at Magnus, whose eyes are shining with something he doesn’t think he’s ever seen before. 

“I want to give you a blowjob.” 

Magnus chuckles and Alec doesn’t know what’s funny, but he doesn’t get discouraged either. He knows Magnus isn’t laughing at him. 

“Here?” Magnus asks, gesturing to the couch. “I do have a bed, you know.” 

“Here, please.” He’s not sure he can wait that long. He also doesn’t want to lose his courage either. He’d never forgive himself for that one. 

Magnus just nods and settles a little more into the couch and that’s when it hits Alec that this is happening. Holy shit, he’s about to give Magnus Bane, who happens to be his boyfriend, a blowjob. He feels like all his dreams are about to come true.

It’s like his hands have a mind of their own as they slowly unbutton Magnus’ jeans and drag the zipper down with ease. He’s knows he’s being a little careful but Magnus doesn’t seem put off and he just doesn’t want to mess anything up. 

He’s more shocked than he should be to discover that Magnus isn’t wearing any underwear. When he looks at his boyfriend, the older man just smirks at him and winks. Alec would laugh if he weren’t so fucking turned on right now.

He’s not shocked though, to see that Magnus is already half hard. He’s big, too. Alec doesn’t have much to compare to, but he thinks that Magnus’ dick was carved by the gods themselves. It’s the only logical explanation as to the utter perfection that he’s staring at right now. 

He grips Magnus gently and forces himself to breathe. Magnus notices this and reaches out to run his thumb over Alec’s lips. He doesn’t say anything, but the gesture is enough and Alec bites at his finger before pulling away and leaning down, licking a single stripe up the length of Magnus’ cock. It’s salty and sweet and perfect and Alec finds that he’s suddenly insatiable. 

He runs his tongue over the head of Magnus’ cock and has to refrain from smiling once he hears him let out a gasp. He’s focused so much on it that he’s taken aback when he feels Magnus’ hands run through his hair and grip onto it sharply. It’s a bit painful, but Alec loves it. He grins slyly before taking a deep breath and going down on Magnus all at once. The older man inhales sharply and bucks up his hips in surprise. It’s not hard enough to actually gag him or anything so Alec starts to bop his head as he opens up his throat. 

Magnus tastes so amazing and Alec can’t even imagine that there was a time when he wasn’t giving his boyfriend blowjobs 24/7. If anyone deserved blowjobs 24/7, it was Magnus and Alec was more than happy to be the one to give them to him. 

He hasn’t been at it long before he feels Magnus start to thrust up into his mouth gently.

“Fuck, you’re so good, darling.” 

The praise gets Alec going like nothing else and he palms himself through his own jeans, finding that it really turns him on too.

“I’m not going to last, Alexander.” 

_Then don’t._

He doesn’t pull off, instead he just looks up at Magnus and gives him a look that he hope says ‘hurry the fuck up and cum in my mouth’, but he’s sure he just looks weird and cross-eyed.

He takes Magnus in deeper and holds him there for a moment before repeating the action. It takes him off guard when the fingers in his hair tighten their grip and Magnus thrusts his hips up, finally letting go and Alec closes his eyes, as he opens his throat and breathes through his nose, swallowing everything. 

Magnus stays there for a second before finally pulling away and looking down at him. 

“Did you… did you _swallow_?”

Alec’s cheeks heat up as he nods. Isn’t that what people are supposed to do? He’s about to ask if he’s done something wrong when Magnus lets out a surprised laugh.

“You’re unbelievable.” 

Alec swallows once more, licking his lips too as he sits back on his legs. 

“Was I good?” He’s not sure why it matters so much, but it’s like he _needs_ to hear Magnus tell him that he did well.

“You’re perfect, darling.” Alec smiles gently, content with the praise and he watches as Magnus’ eyes widen. “Do you…? I can take care of you.” 

Alec isn’t sure what he’s talking about until he looks down pointedly at Alec’s jeans. Alec just grins sheepishly before shaking his head.

“Actually, I’m good.”

Magnus just gives him a look before scoffing and shaking his head in amusement. 

“Come on,” he says as he stands up and lends a hand out to Alec, “I have some clothes you can borrow. Let’s go to sleep.” 

Alec stands up and grabs Magnus’ hand like it’s his lifeline and allows himself to be guided through the apartment. 

Magnus’ room is modern and clean with all white furniture and white bedding on the king size bed in the corner next to the large window. He can see the skyline from where he’s standing and for once the city looks so beautiful and promising to him. 

He glances over to the clock on the bedside table and is surprised to see that Magnus wasn’t lying when he said it was late. It’s a little past three in the morning, but he doesn’t have to be on set until twelve, so he decides it’s okay. 

“Here you go,” Magnus says as he walks over to Alec from the walk-in closet. He hands him a pair of sweats, a large black t-shirt, and a small, wet towel from the bathroom. Alec cleans himself off and puts on the clothes before handing them over to Magnus who tosses them into the laundry basket in his closet. 

The two get into bed and Magnus immediately goes to wrap himself around the younger man. Alec won’t ever say it out loud, but he loves the feeling of being held and he immediately melts into Magnus’ touch.

“Can I keep you?” Magnus whispers as he places a kiss into Alec’s hair. 

“Sure, Casper.” 

Magnus just snorts before squeezing Alec tightly. His grip loosens as he drifts into sleep but Alec stays awake, listening to the way his breathing evens out and lets it be the last thing he hears before finally asleep, hands intertwined with Magnus’ and a smile on his lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ;) a little happiness for these two , gotta get it while they can! 
> 
> I just want to say thank you to everyone who comments, I love you guys so much! Ya'll seriously make me smile so big and I'm so glad that you guys enjoy reading this story as much as I enjoy writing it! 
> 
> as always, thank you for reading and feel free to come talk to me on [tumblr](http://camelotskingz.tumblr.com)!


	12. Chapter 12

Hi. Wow. Is anyone even paying attention to this story? 

Okay, so if you are... I know it's been well over a year and I officially suck but somewhere along the line, I completely lost my love for writing and any inspiration for this story, but I've been thinking back to this story a lot and I would really like to finish it. The thing is though, I would want to rewrite it completely and start all over again. To me, I feel like I rushed this story way too much and it's just not something I'd enjoy writing now. However, if I restarted it and wrote it the way I want to now, it would be. 

So what I'm wondering is if anyone would want to see that? If anyone even cares about this story anymore at all, lol.   
Let me know, I guess. 

Thank you to everyone who read this when it first came out. <3


	13. LAST UPDATE.

So for those of you who were interested in the rewrite it is now up on my page. :) 

It's called all of the stars and this is the link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14373237/chapters/33183822

I will be deleting this version of the story after a week, so download it if it's something you want to hold onto. 

Can't wait for you guys to read the new version. I hope ya'll like it. <3

**Author's Note:**

> anyone enjoy it? I already have a couple of chapters written out, this one is a little short so sorry about it. I just really wanted to post this, hopefully someone will like it. as always, thank you for reading :)  
> and also as always, reach me on my [tumblr](http://camelotskingz.tumblr.com)!


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